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THE 

MERCHANT OF VENICE 

BY 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 

ANNOTATED FOR SCHOOL USE 
BY 

SAMUEL THURBER 



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Mr. Grant White combines the qualifications of a perfect editor of Shakespeare in larger 
proportion than any other with whose labors we are acquainted. He has an acuteness in 
tracing the finer fibres of thought worthy of the keenest lawyer on the scent of a devious 
trail of circumstantial evidence ; he has a sincere desire to illustrate his author rather than 
himself; he is a man of the world as well as a scholar ; he comprehends the mastery of 
imagination ; a critic of music, he appreciates the importance of rhythm as the. higher 
mystery of versification. The sum of his qualifications is large , 'and his work is honora- 
ble to American letters. — James Kussell Lowell. 



EDITED BY 

RICHARD GRANT WHITE. 

With Glossarial, Historical, and Explanatory Notes. 

In Six Volumes : I.-II. Comedies. III.-IV. Histories and 

Poems. V.-VI. Tragedies. 

Crown 8vo, cloth, $10.00; half calf, $18.00; half calf, gilt top, $19.00; 

half levant, $24.00. (Sold only in sets.) 

From Mr. W. Aldis Wright, of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, one of the Editors 
of the famous Cambridge Edition of Shakespeare. 
Mr. Grant White's name is a sufficient guarantee for the goodness of the text, and 
the notes he has done wisely to make brief and few, so that the attention of the readers 
is directed to what the author wrote, and not to what others have written about him. 

From Harper's Monthly, December, 1883. 
His introductions are marvels of terseness, and yet contain everything that an intelli- 
gent reader cares to know ; his glossarial, historical, and explanatory notes are brief, 
luminous, and directly to the point; his text is as perfect as the most industrious re- 
search and painstaking studv could make it ; and the concise and excellent life of 
Shakespeare which he has prefixed to the first volume sets forth every fact that is re dly 
known with regard to the life, character, disposition, habits, and writings of the poet. 
By reason of its convenient size, its judicious arrangement, its thoroughly trustworthy 
text, and the wise reserve with which it has been edited anu annotated, this servi' eable 
edition deserves, above all other editions with which we are familiar, to be made the 
favorite companion of the man of letters in his study, and of all readers of cultivated 
literary taste in the seclusion of their libraries, or in their hours of leisure. 

From the New York Tribune. 
As an edition for general use, the Riverside Shakespeare must take its place at once 
in the very front rank. . . . The notes are always brief, but they are abundant and 
satisfying. The editor's acquaintance with the literature and history of Shakespeare's 
time and the materials from which he freely borrowed give the<-e t-hort notes a sur- 
prising clearness, precision, and completeness. They aie never pedantic. They really 
illuminate the text. They make the Riverside Shakespeare, so far as the work of the 
editor goes, probably the most comfortable of all editions to read. 

From the Liverpool Post. 
The first Shakespearean scholar in America is probably Mr. Richard Grant White. 
He is a scholar, a thinker, a critic, a high aesthetic authority, and an elegant essay 
writer, — in his way almost a genius. 

From The Nation. 
He possesses a rare faculty of delicate and acute literary criticism and insight, com- 
bined with a hardly less rare faculty of expressing fine distinctions of thought. 

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2Dijc Hfoersine literature fat ries 



THE MERCHANT OF YENICE 

y 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 



FROM THE RIVERSIDE EDITION OF 
SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 



ANNOTATED FOB SCHOOL USE 
By SAMUEL THURBER 

MASTER IN THE GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON 




HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY 

Boston : 4 Park Street ; New York : 11 East 17th Street 
Chicago: 28 Lakeside Building 

m» CStoeruibe #re?#, Camfcribge 
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Copyright, 1892, 
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 

All rights reserved. 






The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company. 



«i 



INTRODUCTION. 

The help which the beginner in Shakespeare study needs, 
the wise teacher will be careful to give judiciously, having 
in view the formation of mental habits rather than prepara- 
tion for impending scholastic tests. Examinations have, in 
our educational system, so far transcended their legitimate 
function of stimulus and guidance, that they are at last 
fairly installed as ends in themselves, and we constantly 
hear of preparing for them and passing them as the business 
of the school. This extravagant homage to examinations 
warps the ideals of teachers and vitiates their methods in 
many studies. In English it has begotten the highly anno- 
tated text, which contemplates an emergency of hurry and 
is meant to preclude the necessity of stopping to think. 

Not until the examination ceases to be a disturbing ele* 
ment in our planning can we teach with reference to the 
desires, the capacities, and the needs of the youthful mind. 
The mature Shakespeare scholar finds his stimulus to ac- 
tivity in the hard knots, the unsolved difficulties, of the 
poet's text : he must have something that resists to brace 
himself against. But the beginner, in his humble sphere, is 
in precisely the same case as the learned scholar. He too 
must have his tangible problem, a clearly felt obstacle to 
progress, that requires him to take trouble, to think again 
and again, to push his search in many directions. So dead 
and inert a thing is information that was unsought and un- 
desired, — information proffered before the need of it was 
even surmised, — that earnest search, even though it has 
failed, is far better. A bright youth furnished with the 
bare text of a play, and having access to but the scantiest 
literary helps, will, provided he has an inquisitive mind, read 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

his Shakespeare to better issues than will the possessor of 
the fullest notes who has had nothing to do but memorize 
printed matter placed under his eye in the shape of lessons. 

In accordance with these convictions I have prepared the 
Merchant of Venice for the use of young readers, whether 
in or out of school. I have aimed to set the young peo- 
ple at work, not at the task of committing notes to memory, 
but in the pleasanter and more fruitful occupation of search- 
ing for the materials of which notes are made, as if the 
young people had the notes to make for themselves. For 
the value of a note lies not in the possession of it, but in the 
having made it from one's own resources. Therefore my 
notes have taken the form of questions and cautions, often 
coupled with suggestions of the route to be pursued in mak- 
ing the required investigations. One of the best ways to 
stimulate pupils is to give them something to find out and 
report upon at a future time. It does no harm even to lead 
them sometimes into a maze, and let them extricate them- 
selves after considerable wandering in wrong paths. A dif- 
ficulty solved at the instant of its appearance lacks all the 
elements of interest. A difficulty conquered after valiant 
efforts and repeated failures becomes memorable, and whets 
the appetite for more adventures. 

The notes appended to these pages will be found few in 
comparison with the noteworthy points. There are not 
many lines of Shakespeare that do not furnish occasion for 
some sort of comment. Teachers will use their discretion 
as to the time they shall linger over any given matter. A 
good rule is to dwell upon passages so long as the pupil's 
interest does not flag. I have found in my own classes that 
it is possible to advance rapidly, even through matter 
abounding in difficulties, by distributing the items of research 
among the individuals of a class. The most charming kind 
of recitation is that to which each pupil brings his own 
preparation, unlike that of any other. To such a recitation 
all listen with eagerness. 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

In my annotation, as often as it seemed feasible, I have 
referred the student, for light on special points, to other pas- 
sages in the poet's works. The habit of seeking explana- 
tions of Shakespearian difficulties in Shakespeare himself is 
of the very first importance. It has seemed to me also de- 
sirable to familiarize the learner in this way with the plays 
at large, even though it be only to such extent as is implied 
in turning the leaves and searching for passages and words. 
These references are to the Globe Shakespeare, published 
by Macmillan & Co. As this book has come to be almost 
universally recognized by Shakespeare scholars as a stand- 
ard for purposes of reference, and is exceedingly cheap, it 
may be named as the first requisite among collateral helps 
for the study of the poet. 

Next in importance is Mrs. Clarke's Concordance. With 
the aid of this book the pupil can make discoveries for him- 
self of all sorts of analogies and illustrations. Of perhaps 
equal value, and for very similar purposes, is Schmidt's 
Shakespeare Lexicon. Schmidt classifies the meanings of 
words and refers to act, scene and line, but usually does not 
quote the context ; whereas Mrs. Clarke simply collects all 
instances of each word, without classification, even min- 
gling parts of speech, and refers merely to act and scene, 
but quotes enough to give some idea of the use of the word 
in each instance. Thus both books are important adjuncts 
to the school-room apparatus for literary study. 

The larger English dictionaries, like the International 
Webster and the Century, are in themselves adequate helps 
to the solution of many of the difficulties that confront the 
beginner in Shakespeare. The habit of constant reference 
to the dictionary is quite as important in this study as in any 
other. 

At an early period of his occupation with Shakespeare, the 
young student should become acquainted with the facts of 
the poet's life. An outline of the history of the times of 
Elizabeth and James he will doubtless have got already, or 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

soon will get, from his study of English history. The learn- 
er's attention may properly be called to the facts that Shake- 
speare's opportunity for education and observation was by 
no means a peculiarly restricted one, and that he was early 
recognized by his contemporaries as a poet and playwright 
of surpassing power. About his life there remains great ob- 
scurity, for the records of it are, at least in comparison with 
our desire to know about it, painfully meagre. But this 
scantiness of information about the poet's life is altogether 
natural : there is about it no element of the marvelous, — 
nothing that requires or suggests the invention of startling 
hypotheses to account for the existence of the works that 
bear his name. 

Lives of Shakespeare are to be found in many of the 
standard editions of his works, and in all the encyclopaedias. 
The great authority is Halliwell-Phillips, whose Outlines of 
the Life of Shakespeare, although not interesting to young 
persons as reading-matter, may often, even by them, be 
profitably consulted on special topics. Much the same may 
be said of F. G. Fleay's Chronicle History of the Life and 
Works of William Shakespeare. Quite within the range of 
young readers is the little book of Samuel Neil, — Shake- 
speare, a Critical Biography. More easily accessible will 
be found Mrs. Caroline H. Dall's What we really, know 
about Shakespeare. The article on Shakespeare in the En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica, by Professor Baynes, is of moderate 
length and readable. It presents a concise bibliography of 
Shakespearian literature, which will sometimes prove conve- 
nient for reference. Professor Dowden's Shakespeare 
Primer contains, or hints, the essentials of Shakespearian 
study. This book is so easily procurable, and is so entirely 
trustworthy, that it may be recommended to the young 
student as a desirable possession. The life of the poet by 
Richard Grant White, prefixed to his edition of the works, is 
eminently vivacious in style, if not altogether pleasing in 
tone and spirit. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Whenever a play of Shakespeare is on the docket of the 
English class, it is indispensable that there lie on the table 
for easy reference a copy of the play in Furness' Variorum 
edition, if indeed the play in question is among those which 
at the time have appeared in this form. The Merchant of 
Venice is happily one of these. Whether the notes in this 
volume refer to Furness or not, the eye of the class should 
be kept on his pages for the sake of the broad outlook 
which they give into the world of Shakespearian speculation 
and research. 

As the plays studied in school are read aloud, under cor- 
rection, and with opportunity for discussion, great pains 
should be taken with inflection, emphasis, and pronuncia- 
tion, — in fact, with every element of expression. The 
metre should be sacredly observed. The poet's lines rarely 
refuse to be scanned. He is great in his rhythm as well as 
in his thought. Then it must be remembered that the five- 
foot iambic line, either riming or unrimed, is the great 
staple of English verse-forms, and thorough habituation to 
its movement is a prime condition of ability to read poetry 
with appreciation of its charm for the ear. Shakespeare 
uses this measure with infinite freedom. Sometimes he 
oversteps its limits with seeming wantonness. But this dis- 
dain of restraint occurs much less frequently than to the be- 
ginner seems to be the case. The verse usually reads aright 
when we know how to read it. 

Believing that a due regard for the poet's rhythm is an 
essential part of Shakespearian culture, I give frequent notes 
to warn or instruct the reader in this matter. For further 
study of the subject, the learner may resort to Abbott's 
Shakespearian Grammar. No outside study, however, will 
take the place of careful examination and comparison of the 
lines themselves, and of frequent reading of them aloud with 
the purpose to bring out as fully as possible both their mel- 
ody and their meaning. The poet notably wrote his plays, 
not for the closet, but for the stage : he had in mind espe- 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

cially how they would sound. We cannot neglect, therefore, 
to speak his verses with all deference to the laws which he 
observed in composing them ; and the endeavor to ascertain 
these laws is a fundamental part of the study of his works. 

In his grammar and vocabulary, again, the poet is almost 
as interesting as he is in his metre. The young learner 
finds new words, and old words in new meanings ; new 
forms of inflection ; new applications of mode and tense ; 
new arrangements of phrase and sentence. To the begin- 
ner the poet's diction is a chief perplexity. This trouble 
must of course be overcome by resolute study. The lan- 
guage of Shakespeare is not merely the current speech of 
his contemporaries. There is in it something of the poet's 
own which it is profitable to explore, just as it is profitable to 
investigate his life and his art. 

Many questions concerning the story or the characters of 
the Merchant of Venice will suggest themselves as the play 
is read by a class of bright young persons. Some of these 
questions are hinted at in the notes. Those which have to 
do with the origin of the plot and the period of the poet's 
life to which the play belongs will be solved by reference 
to Furness or to the introductions in the standard editions, 
as, e. g., in Grant White. But there remains one question 
of profound interest, the indications for whose solution 
should be watched for in the development of every Shake- 
spearian play. This is the question of dramatic time. In 
Furness' Variorum Merchant of Venice the subject is dis- 
cussed in its bearings on this play, and reference is made to 
the theory of Professor Wilson (Christopher North) as to 
dramatic time in Shakespeare. Wilson's theory is presented 
in the Variorum Othello. It first appeared in the series of 
papers called Dies Boreales in Blackwood's Magazine. 

According to Professor Wilson, we are to look, in a play 
of Shakespeare, for indications both of quick movement and 
of slow movement. This is no inconsistency in a drama, 
where the purpose is not to chronicle events, but to produce 



INTRODUCTION. y 

an illusion. Most persons read the Merchant of Venice 
without wondering where the lapse of three months is pro- 
vided for. They have seen things ripening at a pace and 
to a degree that implies all this time ; and they have seen 
the persons moving and speaking with a haste and energy 
that seems to account for but two or three days. Not until 
we dissect the drama as literature and treat it as a chronicle 
do we begin to be querulous about the time. 

It will be extremely interesting to young students to 
watch for the touches that convey the impression of haste, 
and for those that seem to retard the movement and to 
deepen our impression of time adequate to the maturing of 
the business of the drama. In this connection help will be 
found in Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke's Shakespeare 
Key, a book which for many other purposes also will prove 
useful in the school library. Once warned, however, to be 
on the alert, the young student will easily detect the passages 
of the two kinds. In The Tempest the two kinds of time 
coincide, and the play conforms to the classic rule of unity 
of time. In nearly all the other plays they diverge. 

Such hints as are offered in this introduction and in the 
notes appended to the text should be considered by the 
teacher of the Shakespeare class only as specimens of the 
matters that may rightly be brought under review in school. 
The possibilities of interesting discussion, research and spec- 
ulation are, to the Shakespeare scholar, infinite. It must 
not be thought for a moment that it is well, with beginners, 
to try even approximately to exhaust these possibilities. 
Matters that are clearly beyond the reach of the learner 
must be let alone. It is a mistake, however, to withhold from 
readers the matters that are best fitted to stimulate their 
curiosity and invigorate their faculties. It will do no harm 
to attempt some feats that cannot be achieved. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 



Old Gobbo, father to Launcelot. 
Leonardo, servant to Bassanio. 
Balthasab, 
Stephano, 



servants to Portia. 



The Duke of Venice. 
The Prince of Morocco, ) Suitors to 
The Prince of Arragon, ) Portia. 
Antonio, a merchant of Venice. 
Bassanio, his friend., suitor to Portia. 
Salanio, 1 

Salarino, I friends to Antonio and 
Gratiano, J Bassanio. 

Salerio, J 

Lorenzo, in love with Jessica. 
Shylock, a rich Jew. 
Tubal, a Jew, his friend. 
Launcelot Gobbo, a clown, servant to 
Shylock. 

Scene : Partly at Venice and partly at Belmont, Portia's seat, on the Continent. 



Portia, a rich heiress. 
Nerissa, her waiting-maid. 
Jessica, daughter to Shylock. 

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the 
Court of Justice, Gaoler, Servants to 
Portia, and other attendants. 



THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 



ACT I. 

Scene I. Venice. A street. 

Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Salanio. 

Ant. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad : 
It wearies me ; you say it wearies you ; 
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 
What stuff 't is made of, whereof it is born, 

1-7. With this speech of Antonio compare that with which 
Portia opens the next scene. These two speeches " strike the 
key-note " of the play, which, although it is called a comedy and 
comes to a pleasing issue, is in the main sad, and verges closely 
upon the tragic. The cause of Portia's weariness she soon re- 
veals. Why Antonio is sad is not so clear. You can see what 
weighs on his mind by noting what he first speaks of when he is 
alone with Bassanio. See also Act II., Sc. viii. Perhaps the 
poet merely wishes to represent Antonio as having a mysterious 
presentiment of coming woe. 

2-4. The pronoun it, occurring so often in these lines, may 
refer to the idea of sadness set forth in the first line of the 
speech. Antonio says he cannot understand his own melancholy, 
that he is annoyed by it, and is chagrined to see that his friends 
notice it ; but that, after all, he is powerless to resume his usual 
mood of cheerful friendliness. Notice how little Antonio says 
until he can talk privately with Bassanio. 

3, 4. Note the exuberance of phrase employed to express one 
and the same idea. This is a peculiar Shakespearian trait. Be 
on the watch for other instances of it. 



12 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

I am to learn ; 5 

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, 
That I have much ado to know myself. 

Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean ; 
There, where your argosies with portly sail, 
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, 10 

Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea, 
Do overpeer the petty traffickers, 
That curtsy to them, do them reverence, 
As they fly by them with their woven wings. 

Salan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth, 
The better part of my affections would w 

Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still 
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind, 
Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads ; 
And every object that might make me fear 20 

Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt 
Would make me sad. 

5. I am to learn. A standard expression in the poet's time, 
with a meaning very different from what the words would have 
to-day. What this meaning is you may infer from a comparison 
of this passage with Henry VI. , Part III., iv. 4, 2. — Lines of 
only two or three accents will often be met with. Make a col- 
lection of these and see if you can deduce any principle that 
shall seem to have governed the poet in their use. 

8. Be careful to give the verse its five accents. Compare 
King John, II., 1, 24, and 340. 

11. The word pageant has an interesting history, which can 
be looked up in the dictionaries. For its meaning in Shake- 
speare see its use in other plays, as in Temp., IV., 1, 155, As you 
Like it, II., 7, 138, Mid. N. Dream, III., 2, 14, and elsewhere. 

14. The line has a grave rhetorical defect. Decide to what 
antecedents the pronouns they and them refer. 

17. The French word toujours, which usually has the meaning 
that still has here, sometimes expresses just the idea to which 
we limit the word still at present. The two meanings are akin. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 13 

Salar. My wind cooling my broth 

Would blow me to an ague, when I thought 
What harm a wind too great at sea might do. 
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, 25 

But I should think of shallows and of flats, 
And see my wealthy Andrew docked in sand, 
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs 
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church 
And see the holy edifice of stone, 30 

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, 
Which touching but my gentle vessel's side, 
Would scatter all her spices on the stream, 
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks, 
And, in a word, but even now worth this, 35 

And now worth nothing ? Shall I have the thought 
To think on this, and shall I lack the thought 
That such a thing bechanced would make me sad ? 
But tell not me ; I know, Antonio 
Is sad to think upon his merchandise. 40 

Ant. Believe me, no : I thank my fortune for it, 
My ventures are. not in one bottom trusted, 
Nor to one place ; nor is my whole estate 
Upon the fortune of this present year : 
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad. 45 

Salar. Why, then you are in love. 

Ant. Fie, fie ! 

Salar. Not in love neither ? Then let us say you 
are sad, 

27. Andrew, a merchant ship ; possibly so called in memory 
of Andrea Doria, the great Genoese admiral. ( White.} 

35. The word this, being a pronoun apparently without ante- 
cedent, is of course unmeaning, unless we suppose the actor here 
to make a gesture which shall somehow indicate great wealth. 

44. Yet see his letter to Bassanio, Act III., Sc. 2. 

47. Note in this line and in 178, this scene, a dissyllabic word 



14 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Because you are not merry : and 't were as easy 
For you to laugh and leap and say you are merry, 
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus, 
Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time : 51 
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes 
And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper, 
And other of such vinegar aspect 
That they '11 not show their teeth in way of smile, 55 
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. 
Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano. 

Sedan. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble 
kinsman, 
Gratiano and Lorenzo. Fare ye well : 
We leave you now with better company. 

Salar. I would have stayed till I had made you 
merry, co 

If worthier friends had not prevented me. 

Ant. Your worth is very dear in my regard. 
I take it, your own business calls on you 
And you embrace the occasion to depart. 

that has to be scanned as one syllable. Yet this word sometimes 
has the value of two syllables, as in scene 3, line 59. 

50. Find the one other character, also a Venetian, whom the 
poet represents as using the oath By Janus. 

54. Discuss the peculiarity of vinegar as an epithet of aspect. 
— The word aspect is in Shakespeare (and Milton) always ac- 
cented as in this verse. See II., 1, 8. 

56. Nestor figures largely in one other of the poet's plays. 
What Nestor stood for to him must be learned from that play. 
Do this rather than consult the classical dictionary. 

61. The present meaning of the word prevent is derived from 
the original one, which appears here, as it frequently does in our 
older literature. See, e. g., Ccesar, V., 1, 105. See the adjective 
prevenient, Par. Lost, xi., 3. 

62-64. Notice the urbanity with which Antonio dismisses 
Salanio and Salarino. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 15 

Salar. Good morrow, my good lords. 65 

Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? 
say, when ? 
You grow exceeding strange : must it be so ? 

Salar. We '11 make our leisures to attend on 
yours. 

[Exeunt Salarino and Salanio. 

Lor. My Lord Bassanio, since you have found 
Antonio, 
We two will leave you : but at dinner-time, 70 

I pray you, have in mind where we must meet. 

Bass. I will not fail you. 

Gra. You look not well, Signior Antonio ; 
You have too much respect upon the world : 
They lose it that do buy it with much care : 75 

Believe me, you are marvellously changed. 

Ant. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano ; 
A stage where every man must play a part, 
And mine a sad one. 

Gra. Let me play the fool : 

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come, 80 

And let my liver rather heat with wine 
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. 
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, 
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ? 
Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice 85 
By being peevish ? I tell thee what, Antonio — 
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks — 

66-71. Bassanio cordially and merrily greets the two depart- 
ing friends, but does not ask them to stay. Evidently all four 
of these gentlemen, who are thus being got rid of, are represented 
as being the social inferiors of Antonio and Bassanio. 

70, 71. What is the appointment made here ? Be on the 
watch for further mention of it. 

82. Be careful about the meaning of mortifying. 



16 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

There are a sort of men whose visages 

Do cream and mantle like a standing pond, 

And do a wilful stillness entertain, 90 

With purpose to be dressed in an opinion 

Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit, 

As who should say " I am Sir Oracle, 

And when I ope my lips let no dog bark ! " 

my Antonio, I do know of these 95 
That therefore only are reputed wise 

For saying nothing, when, I am very sure, 

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears 

Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools. 

1 '11 tell thee more of this another time : 100 
But fish not, with this melancholy bait, 

For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. 

Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile : 

I '11 end my exhortation after dinner. 

Lor. Well, we will leave you then till dinner-time : 
I must be one of these same dumb wise men, 106 

For Gratiano never lets me speak. 

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years 
moe, 
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue. 

Ant. Farewell : I '11 grow a talker for this gear. 

89. mantle. See Lear, III., 4, 139, and Tempest, IV., 1, 182. 
Compare Milton's Comus, 294. 

91. to be dressed in an opinion of wisdom. Express this 
idea in modern phrase. 

92. conceit : remember that this word has acquired in recent 
times a meaning that it did not have for Shakespeare. 

93. as who should say : see Webster's Dictionary, under who. 
98, 99. Confused, but intelligible. Refer to the gospel of 

Matthew, v, 22. — What is the subject of would damn ? 

102. opinion here has the same meaning as in line 91, but 
notice the different metric value of the word in the two cases. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 17 

Gra. Thanks, i' faith, for silence is only com- 
mendable 111 
In a neat's tongue dried. 

[Exeunt Gratiano and Lorenzo. 

Ant. Is that any thing now ? 

Bass. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, 
more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are- 
as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff : 
you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when 
you have them, they are not worth the search. 

Ant. Well, tell me now what lady is the same 
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, 120 

That you to-day promised to tell me of ? 

Bass. 'T is not unknown to you, Antonio, 
How much I have disabled mine estate, 
By something showing a more swelling port 
Than my faint means would grant continuance : 125 
Nor do I now make moan to be abridged 
From such a noble rate ; but my chief care 
Is to come fairly off from the great debts 
Wherein my time something too prodigal 
Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio, 130 

I owe the most, in money and in love, 
And from your love I have a warranty 
To unburden all my plots and purposes 
How to get clear of all the debts I owe. 

Ant. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it; 
And if it stand, as you yourself still do, i36 

Within the eye of honour, be assured, 
My purse, my person, my extremest means, 
Lie all unlocked to your occasions. 

114-118. This one prose speech, occurring in a scene other- 
wise wholly in verse, suggests discussion. 

139. Be sure to find the five accents. The reader of Shake- 
speare must be prepared to find sometimes one syllable, and 
sometimes two, in the ending — ion. 



18 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Bass. In my school-days, when I had lost one 
shaft, wo 

I shot his fellow of the self-same flight 
The self-same way with more advised watch, 
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both 
I oft found both : I urge this childhood proof, 
Because what follows is pure innocence. us 

I owe you much, and, like a wilful youth, 
That which I owe is lost ; but if you please 
To shoot another arrow that self way 
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, 
As I will watch the aim, or to find both 150 

Or bring your latter hazard back again 
And thankfully rest debtor for the first. 

Ant. You know me well, and herein spend but time 
To wind about my love with circumstance ; 
And out of doubt you do me now more wrong 155 

In making question of my uttermost 
Than if you had made waste of all I have : 
Then do but say to me what I should do 
That in your knowledge may by me be done, 
And I am prest unto it : therefore, speak. 160 

Bass. In Belmont is a lady richly left ; 
And she is fair and, fairer than that word, 
Of wondrous virtues : sometimes from her eyes 
I did receive fair speechless messages : 
Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued ik 

To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia : 

143. The line had better be read with six accents. Such lines 
often have a pause in the middle and may be regarded as tri- 
meter couplets. 

160. prest has no connection with the verb to press. See 
Pericles, IV., prol., 45. 

165, 1G6. Compare, metrically, the two instances of the word 
Portia in these lines. Scan the lines in which the name Antonio 
occurs, and see if it always counts the same number of syllables. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 19 

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, 

For the four winds blow in from every coast 

Renowned suitors ; and her sunny locks 

Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; no 

Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand, 

And many Jasons come in quest of her. 

my Antonio, had I but the means 
To hold a rival place with one of them, 

1 have a mind presages me such thrift, 175 
That I should questionless be fortunate ! 

Ant. Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea ; 
Neither have I money nor commodity 
To raise a present sum : therefore go forth ; 
Try what my credit can in Venice do : iso 

That shall be racked, even to the uttermost, 
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. 
Go, presently inquire, and so will I, 
Where money is ; and I no question make 
To have it of my trust or for my sake. [Exeunt 

Scene II. Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 
Enter Portia and Nerissa. 
Por. By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary 
of this great world. 

169, 170. Remember that Portia is a blonde. As to her friend 
and companion in the play, the apparent derivation of her name 
from the Italian word, nero (French noir), has occasioned the 
surmise that we are to conceive her as a brunette. 

183. presently has here, as nearly always in Shakespeare, its 
primitive meaning, which is quite different from its modern one. 

185. Antonio names two distinct ways of raising money. 
What are they ? 

Sc. II. Consider why the women in this scene speak prose, 
after the men in the previous one have had their talk in verse. 

1. By my troth. The reader of Shakespeare becomes fami- 



20 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Ner. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries 
were in the same abundance as your good fortunes 
are : and yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that sur- 
feit with too much as they that starve with nothing. 
It is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the 
mean: superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but 
competency lives longer. 

For. Good sentences and well pronounced. 10 

Ner. They would be better, if well followed. 

For. If to do were as easy as to know what were 
good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men's 
cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that fol- 
lows his own instructions : I can easier teach twenty 
what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty 
to follow mine own teaching. The brain may devise 
laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold 
decree : such a hare is madness the youth, to skip 
o'er the meshes of good counsel the cripple. But this 
reasoning is not in the fashion to choose me a hus- 
band. O me, the word choose ! I may neither choose 
whom I would nor refuse whom I dislike ; so is the 
will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead 
father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose 
one nor refuse none ? 26 

Ner. Your father was ever virtuous ; and holy men 
at their death have good inspirations : therefore the 
lottery, that he hath devised in these three chests of 
gold, silver and lead, whereof who chooses his mean- 
liar with an astonishing variety of phrases of asseveration and 
protestation. We have seen several already. — my little body. 
Of course Portia was not little. She is not describing her per- 
son. There is another way to account for the phrase she uses. 

3. Note that the poet makes his characters use both the pro- 
nouns of the second person, thou and you. Try to observe 
whether his practice is governed by any rule. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 21 

ing chooses you, will, no doubt, never be chosen by 
any rightly but one who you shall rightly love. But 
what warmth is there in your affection towards any of 
these princely suitors that are already come ? 34 

Por. I pray thee, over-name them ; and as thou 
namest them, I will describe them ; and, according to 
my description, level at my affection. 

JSfer. First, there is the Neapolitan prince. 

Por. Ay, that 's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing 
but talk of his horse ; and he makes it a great appro- 
priation to his own good parts, that he can shoe him 
himself. 

Ner. Then there is the County Palatine. 

Por. He doth nothing but frown, as who should 
say " If you will not have me, choose : " he hears 
merry tales and smiles not : I fear he will prove the 
weeping philosopher when he grows old, being so full 
of unmannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather be 
married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth 
than to either of these. God defend me from these 
two ! 51 

Ner. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur 
Le Bon ? 

Por. God made him, and therefore let him pass for 
a man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker : 
but, he ! why, he hath a horse better than the Neapo- 
litan's, a better bad habit of frowning than the Count 

43. County Palatine. A count palatine was a noble officer, 
who exercised royal authority within his county or province ; the 
same as palsgrave in German. ( White.) 

47. weeping philosopher. The Greek philosopher, Heracli- 
tus, from the well-known melancholy of his disposition, was 
represented in various old traditions as the contrast to Demo- 
critus, weeping over the follies and frailties at which the latter 
laughed. See Classical Dictionary. 



22 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Palatine ; he is every man in no man ; if a throstle 
sing, he falls straight a capering : he will fence with 
his own shadow : if I should marry him, I should 
marry twenty husbands. If he would despise me, I 
would forgive him, for if he love me to madness, I 
shall never requite him. 

Ner. What say you, then, to Falconbridge, the 
young baron of England ? 65 

Por. You know I say nothing to him, for he under- 
stands not me, nor I him : he hath neither Latin, 
French, nor Italian, and you will come into the court 
and swear that I have a poor pennyworth in the Eng- 
lish. He is a proper man's picture, but, alas, who 
can converse with a dumb-show? How oddly he is 
suited ! I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his 
round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany and his 
behaviour every where. 

Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his 
neighbour ? 76 

Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him, 
for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman 
and swore he would pay him again when he was able : 
I think the Frenchman became his surety and sealed 
under for another. si 

Ner. How like you the young German, the Duke 
of Saxony's nephew ? 

Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober, 
and most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk : 
when he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and 
when he is worst, he is little better than a beast : an 

80. sealed under : gave his bond, or became surety, for 
another blow. 

87. an : a word occurring in Shakespeare with extreme fre- 
quency, and meaning merely if. Often the two words, an if are 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 23 

the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift 
to go without hiru. 89 

Ner. If he should offer to choose, and choose the 
right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's 
will, if you should refuse to accept him. 

Por. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, 
set a deep glass of rhenish wine on the contrary cas- 
ket, for if the Devil be within and that temptation 
without, I know he will choose it. I will do anything, 
Nerissa, ere I '11 be married to a sponge. 

Ner. You need not fear, lady, the having any of 
these lords : they have acquainted me with their de- 
terminations ; which is, indeed, to return to their 
home and to trouble you with no more suit, unless 
you may be won by some other sort than your father's 
imposition depending on the caskets. 

Por. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as 
chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner 
of my father's will. I am glad this parcel of wooers 
are so reasonable, for there is not one among them 
but I dote on his very absence, and I pray God grant 
them a fair departure. 109 

Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's 
time, a Venetian, a scholar and a soldier, that came 
hither in company of the Marquis of Montf errat ? 

Por. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio, — as I think, so 
was he called. m 

Ner. True, madam : he, of all the men that ever 
my foolish eyes looked upon, was the best deserving a 
fair lady. 

used with no additional meaning. Look up the origin of the 
word in Skeat's Etym. Dictionary, or in Murray. 

90-92. Make the verbs conform to our ideas of propriety. 

104. Sibylla ; the Latin for sibyl. See Dictionary. 



24 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Por. I remember him well, and I remember him 
worthy of thy praise. 119 

Enter a Serving-Man. 

How now ! What news ? 

Serv. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to 
take their leave : and there is a forerunner come from 
a fifth, the Prince of Morocco, who brings word the 
Prince his master will be here to-night. 

Por. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good 
a heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should 
be glad of his approach : if he had the condition of a 
saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he 
should shrive me than wive me. 

Come, Nerissa. Sirrah, go before. 130 

While we shut the gates upon one wooer, another 

knocks at the door. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. Venice. A public place. 
Enter Bassanio and Shylock. 

Shy. Three thousand ducats ; well. 

Bass. Ay, sir, for three months. 

Shy. For three months ; well. 

Bass. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall 
be bound. 5 

Shy, Antonio shall become bound ; well. 

Bass. May you stead me ? will you pleasure me ? 
shall I know your answer ? 

Shy. Three thousand ducats for three months and 
Antonio bound. 10 

Bass. Your answer to that. 

121. The four strangers : unintelligible, as six have been 
mentioned. 

7. Note the three auxiliary verbs. Would they all be used in 
the same senses to-day ? 



Scene III.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 25 

Shy. Antonio is a good man. 

Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the con- 
trary ? 14 

Shy. Oh, no, no, no, no : my meaning in saying he 
is a good man is to have you understand me that he 
is sufficient. Yet his means are in supposition : he 
hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the In- 
dies ; I understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he 
hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and 
other ventures he hath, squandered abroad. But ships 
are but boards, sailors but men : there be land-rats 
and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I mean 
pirates, and then there is the peril of waters, winds 
and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient. 
Three thousand ducats ; I think I may take his bond. 

Bass. Be assured you may. 

Shy. I will be assured I may ; and, that I may be 
assured, I will bethink me. May I speak with Anto- 
nio ? 30 

Bass. If it please you to dine with us. 

Shy. Yes, to smell pork ; to eat of the habitation 
which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil 
into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with 
you, walk with you, and so following ; but I will not 
eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. 
What news on the Rialto ? Who is he comes here ? 37 
Enter Antonio. 

Bass. This is Signior Antonio. 

12. Just as business men to-day speak of a man as good. 

19. What the Rialto stood for to Shakespeare is to be learned 
from this play and especially from this scene. See also III., 1. 

22. there be land-rats. Be is of course indicative, as often 
in older English. See the New English Dictionary. 

38. Note the transition to verse. 



26 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Shy. [Aside.'] How like a fawning publican he 
looks ! 
I hate him for he is a Christian, 40 

But more for that in low simplicity 
He lends out money gratis and brings down 
The rate of usance here with us in Venice. 
If I can catch him once upon the hip, 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 45 

He hates our sacred nation, and he rails, 
Even there where merchants most do congregate, 
On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift, 
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe, 
If I forgive him ! 50 

Bass. Shylock, do you hear ? 

Shy. I am debating of my present store, 
And, by the near guess of my memory, 
I cannot instantly raise up the gross 
Of full three thousand ducats. What of that ? 
Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, 55 

Will furnish me. But soft ! how many months 
Do you desire? [To Ant.'] Rest you fair, good sig- 

nior ; 
Your worship was the last man in our mouths. 

Ant. Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow 
By taking nor by giving of excess, 60 

40. Make sure of the five accents. 

43. The word usance appears nowhere in Shakespeare except 
on the lips of Shylock. With him it is a term of honor. The 
word interest he leaves to Antonio and the rest, who use it with 
contempt. 

44. upon the hip : a wrestler's phrase. See this play, IV., 
1, 326, and Othello, II., 1, 314. 

57. Rest you fair. A phrase of apology. Give its modern 
equivalent. See another form of this phrase, more fully ex- 
pressed, in As You Like It, V., 1, 65. 



Scene III.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 27 

Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, 
I '11 break a custom. — Is lie yet possessed 
How much you would ? 

Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. 

Ant. And for three months. 64 

Shy. I had forgot ; three months ; you told me so. 
Well then, your bond ; and let me see ; but hear you ; 
Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow 
Upon advantage. 

Ant. I do never use it. 

Shy. When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's 
sheep — 
This Jacob from our holy Abram was, 70 

As his wise mother wrought in his behalf, 
The third possessor ; ay, he was the third — 

Ant. And what of him ? did he take interest ? 

Shy. No, not take interest, not, as you would say, 
Directly interest : mark what Jacob did 75 

When Laban and himself were compromised 
That all the eanlings which were streaked and pied 
Should fall as Jacob's hire. 
This was a way to thrive, and he was blest : 
And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not. so 

Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served 
for; 
A thing not in his power to bring to pass, 
But swayed and fashioned by the hand of Heaven. 
Was this inserted to make interest good ? 
Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams ? 85 

Shy. I cannot tell ; I make it breed as fast : 
But note me, signior. 

Ant. Mark you this, Bassanio, 

62. Is he yet possessed. See IV., 1, 35. 

76. Compromised : not at all in its usual modern sense. 



28 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. 

An evil soul producing holy witness 

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, 90 

A goodly apple rotten at the heart : 

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath ! 

Shy. Three thousand ducats ; 't is a good round sum. 
Three months from twelve ; then, let me see ; the 
rate — 

Ant. Well, Shy lock, shall we be beholding to you ? 

Shy. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft 96 

In the Rialto you have rated me 
About my moneys and my usances : 
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug, 
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. 100 

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, 
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine, 
And all for use of that which is mine own. 
Well then, it now appears you need my help : 
Go to, then ; you come to me, and you say 105 

" Shy lock, we would have moneys : " you say so ; 
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard 
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur 

93. In this speech Shylock is doing a little figuring, talking to 
himself. What he is meditating, while speaking so distractedly, 
becomes plain at last in line 130. Is it worth while to sacrifice 
three months' interest on a sentimental scheme of revenge ? He 
decides that it is. 

95. beholding : an erroneous use of the present participle, 
common in Shakespeare's day. What should we say now ? 

96. many a time and oft. See this same redundancy of 
phrase in Ccesar, I., 1, 42. 

105. Go to : an exceedingly common exclamation, which, like 
our well and indeed, got its whole meaning from the inflection 
with which it was uttered. As it recurs, try to replace it with 
a modern word or phrase. 



Scene III.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 29 

Over your threshold : moneys is your suit. 

What should I say to you ? Should I not say no 

" Hath a dog money ? is it possible 

A cur can lend three thousand ducats ? " Or 

Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key, 

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 

Say this ; 115 

" Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last ; 

You spurned me such a day ; another time 

You called me dog ; and for these courtesies 

I '11 lend you thus much moneys " ? 

Ant. I am as like to call thee so again, 120 

To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too. 
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not 
As to thy friends ; for when did friendship take 
A breed for barren metal of his friend ? 
But lend it rather to thine enemy, 125 

Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face 
Exact the penalty. 

Shy. Why, look you, how you storm ! 

I would be friends with you and have your love, 
Forget the shames that you have stained me with, 
Supply your present wants and take no doit 130 

Of usance for my moneys, and you '11 not hear me : 
This is kind I offer. 

123, 124. Was it Antonio's view of the morality of taking in- 
terest, or Shylock's, that was destined to prevail? 

126. Correct the ungrammatical language. 

128-132. Was it not at this time probable that Antonio would 
punctually redeem his bond ? If so, what satisfaction could 
Shylock anticipate from the arrangement he here offers to 
make ? 

132. Bassanio's words are inserted in Shylock's speech with- 
out interrupting it metrically. Make an entire verse by joining 
the pieces of Shylock's broken line. 



30 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act I. 

Bass. This were kindness. 

Shy. This kindness will I show. 

Go with me to a notary, seal me there 
Your single bond ; and, in a merry sport, 135 

If you repay me not on such a day, 
In such a place, such sum or sums as are 
Expressed in the condition, let the forfeit 
Be nominated for an equal pound 
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken no 

In what part of your body pleaseth me. 

Ant. Content, i' faith : I '11 seal to such a bond 
And say there is much kindness in the Jew. 

Bass. You shall not seal to such a bond for me : 
I '11 rather dwell in my necessity. 145 

Ant. Why, fear not, man ; I will not forfeit it : 
Within these two months, that 's a month before 
This bond expires, I do expect return 
Of thrice three times the value of this bond. 

Shy. O father Abram, what these Christians are, 
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect ia 
The thoughts of others ! Pray you, tell me this ; 
If he should break his day, what should I gain 
By the exaction of the forfeiture ? 
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man 155 

Is not so estimable, profitable neither, 
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say, 
To buy his favour, I extend this friendship : 
If he will take it, so ; if not, adieu ; 
And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not. 160 

Ant. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond. 

Shy. Then meet me forthwith at the notary's ; 

156. This may be read with six accents, but had better, pro- 
bably, be read with five. The last two syllables of estimable 
may be said to count, metrically, for nothing. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 31 

• 

Give him direction for this merry bond, 

And I will go and purse the ducats straight, 

See to my house, left in the fearful guard 165 

Of an unthrifty knave, and presently 

I will be with you. 

Ant. Hie thee, gentle Jew. 

[Exit Shylock. 
The Hebrew will turn Christian : he grows kind. 

Bass. I like not fair terms and a villain's mind. 

Ant. Come on : in this there can be no dismay ; no 
My ships come home a month before the day. [Exeunt. 

ACT II. 

Scene I. Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Morocco and his train; 

Portia, Nerissa, and others attending. 

Mor. Mislike me not for my complexion, 
The shadowed livery of the burnished sun, 
To whom I am a neighbour and near bred. 
Bring me the fairest creature northward born, 
Where Phoebus' fire scarce thaws the icicles, 5 

And let us make incision for your love, 
To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine. 
I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine 
Hath feared the valiant : by my love, I swear 
The best-regarded virgins of our clime 10 

Have loved it too : I would not change this hue, 
Except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen. 

163. this merry bond. Note that this is the second time Shy- 
lock has used the word merry in connection with this business. 

2. It is natural to connect burnished with the burning effect 
of the sun : but this would be wrong. 

9. See fear used in the same way in Taming of the Shrew, I., 2, 
24, and often elsewhere. 



32 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Pot. In terms of choice I am not solely led 
By nice direction of a maiden's eyes ; 
Besides, the lottery of my destiny 15 

Bars me the right of voluntary choosing : 
But if my father had not scanted me 
And hedged me by his wit, to yield myself 
His wife who wins me by that means I told you, 
Yourself, renowned Prince, then stood as fair 20 

As any comer I have looked on yet 
For my affection. 

Mot. Even for that I thank you : 

Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets 
To try my fortune. By this scimitar 
That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince 25 

That won three fields of Sultan Solyman, 
I would outstare the sternest eyes that look, 
Outbrave the heart most daring on the earth, 
Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear, 
Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey, 30 

To win thee, lady. But, alas the while ! 
If Hercules and Lichas play at dice 
Which is the better man, the greater throw 
May turn by fortune from the weaker hand : 
So is Alcides beaten by his page ; 35 

And so may I, blind fortune leading me, 
Miss that which one unworthier may attain, 
And die with grieving. 

Pot. You must take your chance, 

13, 14. Is this consistent with what Portia has already said 
about Morocco's complexion ? 

19. His wife who wins me. What is the antecedent of 
wfiQ ? Is modern English capable of this construction ? 

20. In what mode is the verb stood ? 

8J.. £>ee a similar exclamation of grief in Ccesar, I., 3, 82, and 
elsewhere. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 33 

And either not attempt to choose at all, 

Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong, 40 

Never to speak to lady afterward 

In way of marriage : therefore be advised. 

Mor. Nor will not. Come, bring me unto my 
chance. 

Por. First, forward to the temple : after dinner 
Your hazard shall be made. 

Mor. Good fortune then ! « 

To make me blest or cursed' st among men. 

[Coj-nets, and exeunt. 
Scene II. Venice. A street. 
Enter Launcelot. 

Laun. Certainly my conscience will serve me to 
run from this Jew my master. The fiend is at mine 
elbow and tempts me, saying to me " Gobbo, Launce- 
lot Gobbo, good Launcelot," or " good Gobbo," 
or " good Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs, take the 
start, run away." My conscience says " No ; take 
heed, honest Launcelot ; take heed, honest Gobbo," or, 
as aforesaid, " honest Launcelot Gobbo ; do not run ; 
scorn running with thy heels." Well, the most cour- 
ageous fiend bids me pack : " Via ! " says the fiend ; 
" away ! " says the fiend ; " for the heavens, rouse up a 
brave mind," says the fiend, " and run." Well, my 

44. to the temple, i. e., to church, to take the oath mentioned 
in line 40. 

46. An ending is omitted. See Cymbeline, IV., 2, 347 ; Corio- 
lanus, V., 3, 130 ; Troilus, IV., 4, 7 ; Measure for Measure, IV., 
6, 13. 

9. scorn running -with thy heels. A passage in Much Ado, 
III., 4, 50, suggests that this may be read with two meanings. 

10. Via, an Italian word meaning away, used in Shake- 
speare's time to urge horses forward. 



34 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

conscience, hanging about the neck of my heart, says 
very wisely to me " My honest friend Launcelot, be- 
ing an honest man's son," or rather an honest woman's 
son ; — well, my conscience says " Launcelot, budge 
not." " Budge," says the fiend. " Budge not," says 
my conscience. " Conscience," say I, "you counsel 
well;" "Fiend," say I, "you counsel well:" to be 
ruled by my conscience, I should stay with the Jew 
my master, who, God bless the mark, is a kind of 
devil ; and, to run away from the Jew, I should be 
ruled by the fiend, who, saving your reverence, is the 
Devil himself. Certainly the Jew is the very devil 
incarnation ; and, in my conscience, my conscience is 
but a kind of hard conscience, to offer to counsel 
me to stay with the Jew. The fiend gives the more 
friendly counsel : I will run, fiend ; my heels are at 
your command ; I will run. 29 

Enter Old Gobbo, with a basket. 

Gob. Master young man, you, I pray you, which is 
the way to master Jew's ? 

Laun. \_Aside.~\ O heavens, this is my true-be- 
gotten father ! who, being more than sand-blind, high- 
gravel blind, knows me not : I will try confusions with 
him. 35 

Gob. Master young gentleman, I pray you, which 
is the way to master Jew's ? 

21, 23. God bless the mark and saving your reverence 
are common conventional phrases for apologizing for some im- 
proper expression. 

25. incarnation : Launcelot's blunder for incarnate. 

33. Look up the origin of sand-blind. 

34. confusions : perhaps Launcelot's blunder for conclusions, 
to try conclusions being a standard phrase, as in Hamlet, III., 4, 
195. Yet Launcelot really goes on to try confusions. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 35 

Laun. Turn up on your right hand at the next 
turning, but at the next turning of all, on your left ; 
marry at the very next turning, turn of no hand, but 
turn down indirectly to the Jew's house. 

Gob. By God's sondes, 'twill be a hard way to 
hit. Can you tell me whether one Launcelot, that 
dwells with him, dwell with him or no ? 44 

Laun. Talk you of young Master Launcelot ? 
[ Aside.'] Mark me now ; now will I raise the waters. 
Talk you of young Master Launcelot ? 

Gob. No master, sir, but a poor man's son : his 
father, though I say 't, is an honest exceeding poor 
man and, God be thanked, well to live. 50 

Laun. Well, let his father be what a will, we talk 
of young Master Launcelot. 

Gob. Your worship's friend and Launcelot, sir. 

Laun. But I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo, I be- 
seech you, talk you of young Master Launcelot. 55 

Gob. Of Launcelot, an 't please your mastership. 

Laun. Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of Mas- 
ter Launcelot, father; for the young gentleman, ac- 
cording to Fates and Destinies and such odd sayings, 
the Sisters Three and such branches of learning, is 
indeed deceased, or, as you would say in plain terms, 
gone to heaven. 

Gob. Marry, God forbid ! the boy was the very 
staff of my age, my very prop. 64 

42. sonties will be found in Webster's Dictionary. 

50. well to live : variously interpreted as meaning " with 
every prospect of long life," or " well off." 

51. a, for he, is common in the written language from the 
thirteenth to the fifteenth century ; in the dramatists of the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries it is frequent in representations 
of familiar speech. — Murray, New English Dictionary. 



36 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Laun. Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel-post, a 
staff or a prop ? Do you know me, father ? 

Gob. Alack the day, I know you not, young gentle- 
man ; but I pray you, tell me, is my boy, God rest his 
soul, alive or dead ? 

Laun. Do you not know me, father ? 70 

Gob. Alack, sir, I am sand-blind ; I know you not. 

Laun. Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you 
might fail of the knowing me : it is a wise father that 
knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you 
news of your son : give me your blessing : truth will 
come to light ; murder cannot be hid long ; a man's 
son may, but at the length truth will out. 

Gob. Pray you, sir, stand up : I am sure you are 
not Launcelot, my boy. 79 

Laun. Pray you, let 's have no more fooling about 
it, but give me your blessing : I am Launcelot, your 
boy that was, your son that is, your child that shall be. 

Gob. I cannot think you are my son. 

Laun. I know not what I shall think of that : but 
I am Launcelot, the Jew's man, and I am sure Mar- 
gery your wife is my mother. 

Gob. Her name is Margery, indeed : I '11 be sworn, 
if thou be Launcelot, thou art mine own flesh and 
blood. Lord worshipped might he be ! what a beard 
hast thou got ! thou hast got more hair on thy chin 
than Dobbin my fill-horse has on his tail. 91 

Laun. It should seem, then, that Dobbin's tail 
grows backward 1 I am sure he had more hair of his 
tail than I have of my face when I last saw him. 

Gob. Lord, how art thou changed ! How dost 

67. Alack the day : with this compare Morocco's alas the 
while, and Desdemona's Alas the heavy day. The words alack 
and alas have interesting etymologies. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 37 

thou and thy master agree ? I have brought him a 
present. How 'gree you now ? 

Laun. Well, well : but, for mine own part, as I 
have set up my rest to run away, so I will not rest till 
I have run some ground. My master 's a very Jew : 
give him a present ! give him a halter : I am famished 
in his service ; you may tell every finger I have with 
my ribs. Father, I am glad you are come : give me 
your present to one Master Bassanio, who, indeed, 
gives rare new liveries : if I serve not him, I will run 
as far as God has any ground. O rare fortune ! here 
comes the man : to him, father ; for I am a Jew, if I 
serve the Jew any longer. 

Enter Bassanio, with Leonardo and other followers. 

Bass. You may do so ; but let it be so hasted that 
supper be ready at the farthest by five of the clock. 
See these letters delivered ; put the liveries to making, 
and desire Gratiano to come anon to my lodging. 

[Exit a Servant. 

Laun. To him, father. 
Gob. God bless your worship ! 
Bass. Gramercy ! wouldst thou aught with me ? lis 
Gob. Here 's my son, sir, a poor boy, — 
Laun. Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew's man ; 
that would, sir, as my father shall specify — 

99. The phrase, set up my rest, will be found in Webster. 
Launcelot of course is given to punning : but is there any char- 
acter in the play that does not pun on occasion ? Antonio, in 
the very depth of his misery, indulges in a play of words. 

112. anon : an interesting word, of frequent occurrence in 
Shakespeare and Milton, and well known to readers of the Bible. 
Look up its origin, and consider why it is lost to our modern 
speech. 



38 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Gob. He hath a great infection, sir, as one would 
say, to serve — 120 

Laun. Indeed, the short and the long is, I serve 
the Jew, and have a desire, as my father shall spe- 
cify— 

Gob. His master and he, saving your worship's rev- 
erence, are scarce cater-cousins — 125 

Laun. To be brief, the very truth is that the Jew, 
having done me wrong, doth cause me, as my father, 
being, I hope, an old man, shall f rutify unto you — 

Gob. I have here a dish of doves that I would be- 
stow upon your worship, and my suit is — 130 

Laun. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to my- 
self, as your worship shall know by this honest old 
man ; and, though I say it, though old man, yet poor 
man, my father. 

Bass. One speak for both. What would you ? 135 

Laun. Serve you, sir. 

Gob. That is the very defect of the matter, sir. 

Bass. I know thee well ; thou hast obtained thy 
suit : 
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day, 
And hath preferred thee, if it be preferment ho 

To leave a rich Jew's service, to become 
The follower of so poor a gentleman. 

119. So Mistress Quickly says, " — her husband has a mar- 
vellous infection to the little page." 

125. cater-cousins : the article on this word in the New Eng- 
lish Dictionary is very interesting. The inflection with which 
Gobbo's speech is read will depend on the meaning ascribed to 
cater-cousins. The speech has the same meaning in either case. 

128. What Launcelot tries to say when he says frutify is not 
clear. 

140. preferred, preferment : be sure of the meaning of 
these words. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 39 

Laun. The old proverb is very well parted between 
my master Shy lock and you, sir : you have the grace 
of God, sir, and he hath enough. 145 

Bass. Thou speak'st it well. Go, father, with thy 
son. 
Take leave of thy old master and inquire 
My lodging out. Give him a livery 
More guarded than his fellows' : see it done. 

Laun. Father, in. I cannot get a service, no ; I 
have ne'er a tongue in my head. [Looks on his 
palm.'] Well, if any man in Italy hath a fairer table, 
which doth offer to swear upon a book ! I shall have 
good fortune. Go to, here 's a simple line of life : 
here 's a small trifle of wives : alas, fifteen wives is 
nothing! eleven widows and nine maids is a simple 
coming-in for one man : and then to 'scape drowning 
thrice, and to be in peril of my life with the edge of a 
feather-bed ; here are simple scapes. Well, if For- 
tune be a woman, she 's a good wench for this gear. 
Father, come ; I '11 take my leave of the Jew in the 

twinkling of an eye. [Exeunt Launcelot and old Gobbo. 

Bass. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this : 
These things being bought and orderly bestowed, 
Return in haste, for I do feast to-night 165 

My best-esteemed acquaintance : hie thee, go. 

Leon. My best endeavours shall be done herein. 

Enter Gratiano. 

Gra. Where is your master ? 

143. The old proverb : that is, " God's grace is gear enough." 

152, 153. So Mrs. Quickly offers, — "I '11 be sworn on a book 

she loves you." — Launcelot's palmistry will be explained by the 

dictionary. Better, however, see Knight's note on this passage, 

and its diagram of the palm with its lines and mounts. 

163. Note that as the churls in the scene give way to gentle- 
men, the language passes from prose to verse. 



40 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Leon. Yonder, sir, he walks. 

[Exit 

Gra. Signior Bassanio ! 

Bass. Gratiano ! 

Gra. I have a suit to you. 

Bass. You have obtained it. 

Gra. You must not deny me : I must go with you 
to Belmont. 

Bass. Why, then you must. But hear thee, Gra- 
tiano ; 
Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice ; 175 

Parts that become thee happily enough 
And in such eyes as ours appear not faults ; 
But where thou art not known, why, there they show 
Something too liberal. Pray thee, take pain 
To allay with some cold drops of modesty wo 

Thy skipping spirit, lest through thy wild behaviour 
I be misconstrued in the place I go to 
And lose my hopes. 

Gra. Signior Bassanio, hear me : 

If I do not put on a sober habit, 

Talk with respect and swear but now and then, W5 
Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely, 
Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes 
Thus with my hat, and sigh and say Amen, 
Use all the observance of civility, 
Like one well studied in a sad ostent wo 

To please his grandam, never trust me more. 

174. hear thee. In such phrases as this and run thee, come 
thee, fare thee, and many others, Abbott regards the pronoun as 
a reduced or lighter form of the nominative. See his Shake- 
spearian Grammar, 212. 

187. hood mine eyes : what curious trait of the table-man- 
ners of Shakespeare's day does this passage reveal ? Read the 
account of the banquet in Timon of Athens, III., 6, and notice 
that here, too, hats appear. 



Scene III.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 41 

Bass. Well, we shall see your bearing. 

Gra. Nay, but I bar to-night : you shall not gauge 
me 
By what we do to-night. 

Bass. No, that were pity : 

I would entreat you rather to put on 195 

Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends 
That purpose merriment. But fare you well : 
I have some business. 

Gra. And I must to Lorenzo and the rest : 
But we will visit you at supper-time. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. The same. A room in Shylock's house. 
Enter Jessica and Launcelot. 

Jes. I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so : 
Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil, 
Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness. 
But fare thee well, there is a ducat for thee : 
And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see 5 

Lorenzo, who is thy new master's guest : 
GiVe him this letter ; do it secretly ; 
And so farewell : I would not have my father 
See me in talk with thee. 9 

Laun. Adieu ! tears exhibit my tongue. Most 
beautiful pagan, most sweet Jew ! These foolish drops 
do something drown my manly spirit : adieu. 

Jes. Farewell, good Launcelot. [Exit Launcelot. 

Alack, what heinous sin is it in me 
To be ashamed to be my father's child ! 15 

But though I am a daughter to his blood, 
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo, 

14, 15. A touch of compunction, where many more would seem 
called for. Is not Jessica about as hard-hearted a person as her 
father ? 



42 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife, is 

Become a Christian and thy loving wife. [Exit. 

Scene IV. The same. A street. 
Enter Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salarino, and Salanio. 

Lor. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time, 
Disguise us at my lodging and return, 
All in an hour. 

Gra. We have not made good preparation. 

Salar. We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers. 

Sedan. 'T is vile, unless it may be quaintly or- 
dered, 
And better in my mind not undertook. 

Lor. 'T is now but four o'clock : we have two 
hours 
To furnish us. 

Enter Launcelot, with a letter. 

Friend Launcelot, what 's the news ? 9 

Laun. An it shall please you to break up this, it 
shall seem to signify. 

Lor. I know the hand : in faith, 't is a fair hand ; 
And whiter than the paper it writ on 
Is the fair hand that writ. 

Gra. Love-news, in faith. 

Laun. By your leave, sir. 15 

Lor. Whither goest thou ? 

Laun. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the Jew to 
sup to-night with my new master the Christian. 

Lor. Hold, here, take this : tell gentle Jessica 
I will not fail her ; speak it privately. [Exit Launcelot. 
Go, gentlemen, 21 

10. to break up this : See Winter's Tale, III., 2, 132. 



Scene V.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 43 

Will you prepare you for this masque to-night ? 
I am provided of a torch-bearer. 

Salar. Ay, marry, I '11 be gone about it straight. 

Salan. And so will I. 

Lor. Meet me and Gratiano 25 

At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence. 

Salar. 'T is good We do SO. [Exeunt Salar. and Salan. 

Gra. Was not that letter from fair Jessica ? 

Lor. I must needs tell thee all. She hath directed 
How I shall take her from her father's house, 30 

What gold and jewels she is furnished with, 
What page's suits she hath in readiness. 
If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven, 
It will be for his gentle daughter's sake : 
And never dare misfortune cross her foot, 35 

Unless she do it under this excuse, 
That she is issue to a faithless Jew. 
Come, go with me ; peruse this as thou goest : 
Fair Jessica shall be my torch-bearer. [Exeunt. 

Scene V. The same. Before Shylock's house. 
Enter Shtlock and Launcelot. 
Shy. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy 

_ j ud g e > 
The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio : — 
What, Jessica ! — thou shalt not gormandise, 
As thou hast done with me : — What, Jessica ! — 
And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out ; — 5 

Why, Jessica, I say ! 

Laun. Why^ Jessica ! 

23. provided of : See Henry V., III., 7, 9, and this play, V., 
274. 

33-36. Note the subjunctives in these lines. 



44 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Shy, Who bids thee call ? I do not bid thee call. 

Laun. Your worship was wont to tell me that I 
could do nothing without bidding. 
Enter Jessica. 

Jes. Call you ? what is your will ? 10 

Shy, I am bid forth to supper, Jessica : 
There are my keys. But wherefore should I go ? 
I am not bid for love ; they flatter me : 
But yet I '11 go in hate, to feed upon 
The prodigal Christian. Jessica, my girl, 15 

Look to my house. I am right loath to go : 
There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest, 
For I did dream of money-bags to-night. 

Laun. I beseech you, sir, go : my young master 
doth expect your reproach. • 20 

Shy. So do I his. 

Laun. An they have conspired together, I will not 
say you shall see a masque ; but if you do, then it was 
not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on 
Black-Monday last at six o'clock i' the morning, fall- 
ing out that year on Ash- Wednesday was four year, in 
the afternoon. 

Shy. What, are there masques? Hear you me, 
Jessica : 
Lock up my doors ; and when you hear the drum 
And the vile squealing of the wry-necked fife, 30 

Clamber not you up to the casements then, 
Nor thrust your head into the public street 
To gaze on Christian fools with varnished faces, 
But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements : 

22-27. Launcelot's speech is as lucid as was the one in which 
he directed his father to master Jew's. 

30. wry-necked fife. The old fife was blown with a crooked 
mouth-piece. ( White.) 



Scene V.J THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 45 

Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter 35 

My sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear, 
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night : 
But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah ; 
Say I will come. 

Laun. I will go before, sir. Mistress, look out at 
window, for all this ; 41 

There will come a Christian by, 
Will be worth a Jewess' eye. [Exit. 

Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha ? 

Jes. His words were " Farewell mistress ; " no- 
thing else. 45 

Shy. The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder ; 
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day 
More than the wild-cat : drones hive not with me ; 
Therefore I part with him, and part with him 
To one that I would have him help to waste 50 

His borrowed purse. Well, Jessica, go in : 
Perhaps I will return immediately : 
Do as I bid you ; shut doors after you : 
Fast bind, fast find ; 
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. [Exit 

Jes. Farewell ; and if my fortune be not crost, 
I have a father, you a daughter, lost. [Exit. 

36. By Jacob's staff : evidently a solemn oath with the He- 
brews. We have already seen the expression, to swear upon a 
book. With what oath did Hamlet bind his fellow-soldiers, who 
with him had seen the ghost ? 

44. Note all the indications of Jessica's character. 

52. Is this correct English according to present standards ? 



46 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Scene VI. The same. 
Enter Gratiano and Salarino, masqued. 

Gra. This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo 
Desired us to make stand. 

Salar. His hour is almost past. 

Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, 
For lovers ever run before the clock. 

Salar, O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly 5 
To seal love's bonds new-made, than they are wont 
To keep obliged faith unforfeited ! 

Gra. That ever holds : who riseth from a feast 
With that keen appetite that he sits down ? 
Where is the horse that doth untread again 10 

His tedious measures with the unbated fire 
That he did pace them first ? All things that are, 
Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed. 
How like a younker or a prodigal 
The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, 15 

Hugged and embraced by the wanton wind ! 
How like the prodigal doth she return, 
With over-weathered ribs and ragged sails, 
Lean, rent and beggared by the wanton wind I 19 

Salar. Here comes Lorenzo : more of this hereafter. 

Enter Lorenzo. 
Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long 
abode ; 
Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait: 
When you shall please to play the thieves for wives, 
I '11 watch as long for you then. Approach ; 
Here dwells my father Jew. Ho ! who 's within ? 25 

2. A trimeter couplet. 
4. Do not misplace the emphasis. 
15. The scarfed bark : See All 's Well, II., 3, 214. 
24. Perhaps the emphatic you is to be so read as to fill the 
place of an accented syllable and a light one. 



Scene VI.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 41 

Enter Jessica, above, in boy's clothes. 

Jes. Who are you ? Tell me, for more certainty, 
Albeit I '11 swear that I do know your tongue. 

Lor, Lorenzo, and thy love. 

Jes, Lorenzo, certain, and my love indeed, 
For who love I so much ? And now who knows 30 
But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours ? 

Lor, Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that 
thou art. 

Jes. Here, catch this casket ; it is worth the pains. 
I am glad 't is night, you do not look on me, 
For I am much ashamed of my exchange : 35 

But love is blind and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit ; 
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush 
To see me thus transformed to a boy. 

Lor, Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. 40 

Jes, What, must I hold a candle to my shames ? 
They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light. 
Why, 't is an office of discovery, love ; 
And I should be obscured. 

Lor. So are you sweet, 

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. 45 

But come at once ; 

For the close night doth play the runaway, 
And we are stayed for at Bassanio's feast. 

Jes. 1 will make fast the doors, and gild myself 
With some more ducats, and be with you straight. 50 

[Exit above. 

31. With this line compare Mids. N. Dream, III., 1, 156, and 
make the inference suggested by the comparison. 
42. Understand the pun. 
44. Be sure of the emphasis. 



48 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile and no Jew. 

Lor. Beshrew me but I love her heartily ; 
For she is wise, if I can judge of her, 
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true, 
And true she is, as she hath proved herself, 55 

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true, 
Shall she be placed in my constant soul. 
Enter Jessica, below. 

What, art thou come ? On, gentlemen ; away ! 
Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. 

[Exit with Jessica and Salarino. 
Enter Antonio. 

Ant. Who 's there ? so 

Gra. Signior Antonio ! 

Ant. Fie, fie, Gratiano ! where are all the rest ? 
'T is nine o'clock : our friends all stay for you. 
No masque to-night : the wind is come about ; 
Bassanio presently will go aboard : 65 

I have sent twenty out to seek for you. 

Gra. I am glad on 't : I desire no more delight 
Than to be under sail and gone to-night. [Exeunt. 

Scene VII. Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter Portia with the Prince of Morocco, 
and their trains. 

Por. Go draw aside the curtains and discover 
The several caskets to this noble prince. 
Now make your choice. 

Mor. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears, 

51. by my hood : evidently a common oath. Chaucer has it 
twice, though it does not appear elsewhere in Shakespeare. Yet 
Slender swears " by these gloves " and " by this hat." 

54. On the conjunctional affix, that, see Abbott's Shakespearian 
Grammar, 287. 

4, 6. Discuss the relative pronouns in these lines. See Ab- 
bott's Shakespearian Grammar, 264. 



Scene VII.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 49 

" Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire ; " 
The second, silver, which this promise carries, 6 

" Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves ; " 
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, 
" Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath." 
How shall I know if I do choose the right ? 10 

Par. The one of them contains my picture, Prince : 
If you choose that, then I am yours withal. 

Mot. Some god direct my judgement ! Let me see ; 
I will survey the inscriptions back again. 
What says this leaden casket? 15 

" Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath." 
Must give : for what ? for lead ? hazard for lead ? 
This casket threatens. Men that hazard all 
Do it in hope of fair advantages: 

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross ; 20 

I '11 then nor give nor hazard aught for lead. 
What says the silver with her virgin hue ? 
f Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves." 
As much as he deserves ! Pause there, Morocco, 
And weigh thy value with an even hand : 25 

If thou be'st rated by thy estimation, 
Thou dost deserve enough ; and yet enough 
May not extend so far as to the lady : 
And yet to be afeard of my deserving 
Were but a weak disabling of myself. 30 

As much as I deserve ! Why, that 's the lady : 
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes, 
In graces and in qualities of breeding ; 
But more than these, in love I do deserve. 

5, 7, 9. Can you give any reason for the metrical peculiarity 
of the inscription-verses ? 

14. back again : infer the meaning of this expression from 
•what follows. 



50 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

What if I strayed no further, but chose here ? 35 

Let 's see once more this saying graved in gold ; 

" Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." 

Why, that 's the lady ; all the world desires her ; 

From the four corners of the earth they come, 

To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint 40 

The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds 

Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now 

For princes to come view fair Portia : 

The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 

Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar 45 

To stop the foreign spirits, but they come, 

As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia. 

One of these three contains her heavenly picture. 

Is 't like that lead contains her ? 'T were damnation 

To think so base a thought : it were too gross 50 

To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. 

Or shall I think in silver she 's immured, 

Being ten times undervalued to tried gold ? 

O sinful thought ! Never so rich a gem m 

Was set in worse than gold. They have in England 

A. coin that bears the figure of an angel 

Stamped in gold, but that 's insculped upon ; 

But here an angel in a golden bed 

Lies all within. Deliver me the key : 

Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may ! 60 

35. In what mode are the verhs ? 

43. to come view : See Merry Wives, IV., 2, 80, and Hamlet, 
II., 1, 101 ; and compare II., 9, 18, of this play. 

51. With this verse compare Hamlet, IV., 5, 213, and Henry 
VI., Part II., IV., 1, 50, and make inference. 

53. tried gold : See II., 9, 63, this play. 

56. A coin that bears the figure of an angel : See John, 
II. 590, and III., 3, 8 ; Much Ado, II., 3, 35. 

58. an angel in a golden bed : See III., 2, 115, this play. 



Scene VIII. J THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 51 
Por. There, take it, Prince ; and if my form lie there, 

Then I am VOUrS. [He unlocks the golden casket. 

Mor. O hell ! what have we here ? 

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye 
There is a written scroll ! I '11 read the writing. 

[Reads."} All that glisters is not gold ; 65 

Often have you heard that told : 

Many a man his life hath sold 

But my outside to behold : 

Gilded tombs do worms infold. 

Had you been as wise as bold, 70 

Young in limbs, in judgement old, 

Your answer had not been inscrolled : 

Fare you well ; your suit is cold. 

Cold, indeed ; and labour lost : 
Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost ! 75 
Portia, adieu. I have too grieved a heart 
To take a tedious leave : thus losers part. 

[Exit with his train. Flourish of cornets. 

Por. A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains, go. 
Let all of his complexion choose me so. [Exeunt. 

Scene VIII. Venice. A street. 
Enter Salarino and Salanio. 
Salar. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail : 
With him is Gratiano gone along ; 
And in their ship I am sure Lorenzo is not. 

Salan. The villain Jew with outcries raised the 
Duke, 
Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship. 5 

Salar. He came too late, the ship was under sail : 
But there the Duke was given to understand 
That in a gondola were seen together 

65-73. Who or what is represented as speaking ? Describe 
the metre of the scroll. 



52 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica : 

Besides, Antonio certified the Duke 10 

They were not with Bassanio in his ship. 

Salan. I never heard a passion so confused, 
So strange, outrageous, and so variable, 
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets : 
" My daughter ! O my ducats ! O my daughter ! 15 
Fled with a Christian ! O my Christian ducats ! 
Justice ! the law ! my ducats, and my daughter ! 
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats, 
Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter ! 
And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones, 
Stolen by my daughter ! Justice ! find the girl ; 21 

She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats." 

Salar. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him, 
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats. 

Salan. Let good Antonio look he keep his day, 25 
Or he shall pay for this. 

Salar. Marry, well remembered. 

I reasoned with a Frenchman yesterday, 
Who told me, in the narrow seas that part 
The French and English, there miscarried 
A vessel of our country richly fraught : 30 

I thought upon Antonio when he told me ; 
And wished in silence that it were not his. 

Salan. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear ; 
Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him. 

25. look he keep : note the mode of the second verb. 

27. I reasoned : common enough in Shakespeare in this 
sense. 

29. How are the five accents to be found ? 

33. You -were best : originally the you in this phrase was da- 
tive. A trace of this usage is seen in such expressions as Ophe- 
lia's "woe is me" which is historically correct, while Prospero's 



Scene IX.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 53 

Salar. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. 35 
I saw Bassanio and Antonio part : 
Bassanio told him he would make some speed 
Of his return : he answered, " Do not so ; 
Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, 
But stay the very riping of the time ; 40 

And for the Jew's bond which he hath of me, 
Let it not enter in your mind of love : 
Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts 
To courtship and such fair ostents of love 
As shall conveniently become you there : " 45 

And even there, his eye being big with tears, 
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, 
And with affection wondrous sensible 
He wrung Bassanio's hand ; and so they parted. 

Salem. I think he only loves the world for him. 50 
I pray thee, let us go and find him out 
And quicken his embraced heaviness 
With some delight or other. 

Salar. Do we so. [Exeunt. 

Scene IX. Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 

Enter Nekissa with a Servitor. 

Ner. Quick, quick, I pray thee ; draw the curtain 
straight : 

" I am woe " is logically absurd. Our modern you had better is 
strictly grammatical and logical. Shakespeare uses this also, as 
in Henry VIII., V., 3, 132. 

42. your mind of love : Bassanio carries with him to Bel- 
mont a mind of love: that is, he is minded to devote himself 
there to " fair ostents of love." 

52. his embraced heaviness is evidently the heaviness to 
which he clings, or which clings to him. 

53. Do we so : a first person plural imperative, now obsolete, 
but once common in English, as it still is in German. So in 
Hamlet, I., 1, 33. 



54 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act H. 

The Prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath, 
And comes to his election presently. 

Flourish of cornets. Enter the Prince of Arragon, Portia, 
and their trains. 

Por. Behold, there stand the caskets, noble Prince : 
If you choose that wherein I am contained, 5 

Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized : 
But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, 
You must be gone from hence immediately. 

Ar. I am enjoined by oath to observe three things : 
First, never to unfold to any one 10 

Which casket 't was I chose ; next, if I fail 
Of the right casket, never in my life 
To woo a maid in way of marriage ; 
Lastly, 

If I do fail in fortune of my choice, 15 

Immediately to leave you and be gone. 

Por. To these injunctions every one doth swear 
That comes to hazard for my worthless self. 

Ar. And so have I addressed me. Fortune now 
To my heart's hope ! Gold ; silver ; and base lead. 20 
" Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he 

hath." 
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard. 
What says the golden chest ? ha ! let me see : 
" Who chooseth me shall gain what many men de- 
sire." 
What many men desire ! that many may be meant 25 
By the fool multitude, that choose by show, 

13. Read with five accents. 

19. addressed me : see Hamlet, L, 2, 216 ; All's Well, III., 
6, 103. How should we put these words of Arragon into English 
of to-day ? 

25. Note the metrical peculiarity of the line. 

26. By : see I., 2, 52, this play. 



Scene IX.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 55 

Not learning more than the fond eye cloth teach ; 

Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet, 

Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 

Even iii the force and road of casualty. so 

I will not choose what many men desire, 

Because I will not jump with common spirits 

And rank me with the barbarous multitudes. 

Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house ; 

Tell me once more what title thou dost bear : 25 

" Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves : " 

And well said too ; for who shall go about 

To cozen fortune and be honourable 

Without the stamp of merit ? Let none presume 

To wear an undeserved dignity. 40 

O, that estates, degrees and offices 

Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour 

Were purchased by the merit of the wearer ! 

How many then should cover that stand bare ! 

How many be commanded that command ! 45 

How much low peasantry would then be gleaned 

From the true seed of honour ! and how much honour 

Picked from the chaff and ruin of the times 

To be new- varnished ! Well, but to my choice : 

" Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.'' 

I will assume desert. Give me a key for this, 51 

And instantly unlock my fortunes here. 

[He opens the silver casket. 

Por. Too long a pause for that which you find 

there. 
Ar. What 's here ? the portrait of a blinking idiot, 

28. Only five accents. 

32. jump with : a common use of jump in Shakespeare. See 
Henry IV, Part I., I., 2, 78. 
51. See II., G, 2. 



56 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act II. 

Presenting me a schedule ! I will read it. 55 

How much unlike art thou to Portia ! 
How much unlike my hopes and my deservings ! 
" Who chooseth me shall have as much as he de- 
serves." 
Did I deserve no more than a fool's head ? 
Is that my prize ? are my deserts no better ? 60 

Pot, To offend, and judge, are distinct offices 
And of opposed natures. 

At, What is here ? 

\_Reads.~\ The fire seven times tried this : 

Seven times tried that judgement is, 

That did never choose amiss. 65 

Some there be that shadows kiss ; 

Such have but a shadow's bliss : 

There be fools alive, I wis, 

Silvered o'er ; and so was this. 

Take what wife you will to bed, 70 

I will ever be your head : 

So be gone : you are sped. 

Still more fool I shall appear 

By the time I linger here : 

With one fool's head I came to woo, 75 

But I go away with two. 

61. Compare Troilus and Cressida, IV., 4, 47 and draw infer- 
ence. — The meaning of this speech is not wholly clear. Per- 
haps, meaning to soothe the feelings of the disappointed prince, 
Portia reminds him that his wrong judgment of the caskets does 
not imply that he is, on general grounds, an offender, without 
deserts. He has simply erred in judging : his self-respect ought 
to remain untainted. 

63-79. The scroll, with Arragon's echo of it, should be ex- 
amined with reference to its metric norm and to the instances 
where it apparently departs from this norm. 

68. I -wis. Do not mistake this for a pronoun and verb. See 
Dictionary. 



Sce, I MERCHANT OF VENICE. 57 

S -■•<• dieu. I '11 keep my oatli, 

to bear my wroth. 

[Exeunt Arragon and train. 

Por. X she candle singed the moth. 

O, thest deliberate I >ols ! when they do choose, so 
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose. 

Ner. T. ! y m S * s n0 heresy, 

Hangings; wivh g • es by destiny. 

Por. Con curtain, Nerissa. 

a Servant. 

Serv. Wi \$ laxly? 

Por. Here : what would my lord ? 

Serv. Madam, there is alighted at your gate 86 

A young Venetian, one that comes before 
To signify the approaching of his lord ; 
Frpm whom he bringeth sensible regreets, 
To wit, besides commends and courteous breath, 90 
Gifts of rich value. Yet I have not seen 
So likely an ambassador of love : 
A day in April never came so sweet, 
To show how costly summer was at hand, 
As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord. 95 

Por. No more, I pray thee : I am half afeard 
Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee, 
Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him. 
Come, come, Nerissa ; for I long to see 
Quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly. 100 

Ner. Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be ! 

[Exeunt. 

81. Note the play on words. 

85. What would my lord? Being spoken to a servant, 
how is this to be understood ? Note the play on words. 

89. regreets : i. e., merely greetings. The servant goes on to 
explain what he means by sensible. 

98. high-day : see the Gospel of John, xix. 31. 



58 THE MERCHANT OF 7 t III. 



ACT III. 

Scene I. Venice. A sti ■ 
Enter Salajsuo an -■■ amo. 

Salan. Now, what news on 

Salar. Why, yet it lives there uncln Ked that An- 
tonio hath a ship of rich lading on the narrow 
seas ; the Goodwins, I ,11 the place ; a 
very dangerous flat, an > i the carcases of 
many a tall ship lie buried, as I ij say, if my gos- 
sip report be an honest A er word. i 

Sedan. I would she were . mg a gossip in that 
as ever knapped ginger or l.i id .er neighbours believe 
she wept for the death of a third husband. But it is 
true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing the plain 
highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest 

Antonio, O that I had a title good enough to 

keep his name company ! — 14 

Salar. Come, the full stop. 

Salan. Ha ! what sayest thou ? Why, the end is, 
he hath lost a ship. 

Salar. I would it might prove the end of his losses. 

Salan. Let me say Amen betimes, lest the devil 
cross my prayer, for here he comes hi the likeness of 
a Jew. 21 

Enter Shtlock. 
How now, Shy lock ! what news among the merchants ? 

9. knapped: that is, nibbled or gnawed. In Measure for Mea- 
sure a character is made to say, — " then ginger was not much 
in request, for the old women were all dead." 

19. Let me say Amen betimes, lest the devil cross my 
prayer. What superstition in regard to the word Amen is here 
indicated ? Consider Macbeth's case, " wherefore could not I 
pronounce Amen ? " 



Scene L] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 59 

Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, 
of my daughter's flight. 

Salar. That 's certain : I, for my part, knew the 
tailor that made the wings she flew withal. 2s 

Salan. And Shy lock, for his own part, knew the 
bird was fledged ; and then it is the complexion of 
them all to leave the dam. 

Shy. She is damned for it. 30 

Salar. That 's certain, if the Devil may be her judge. 

Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel ! 

Salar. There is more difference between thy flesh 
and hers than between jet and ivory ; more between 
your bloods than there is between red wine and rlien- 
ish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have 
had any loss at sea or no ? 37 

Shy. There I have another bad match : a bankrupt, 
a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Ri- 
alto ; a beggar, that was used to come so smug upon 
the mart ; let him look to his bond : he was wont to 
call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was 
wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy ; let him 
look to his bond. 44 

Salar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not 
take his flesh : what 's that good for ? 

Shy. To bait fish withal : if it will feed nothing 
else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, 
and hindered me half a million ; laughed at my losses, 
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my 
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies ; 
and what 's his reason ? I am a Jew. Hath not a 
Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimen- 
sions, senses, affections, passions ? fed with the same 

40. smug : we have lost this word ; but the German still has 
schmuck. 



60 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same 
diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled 
by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is ? 
If you prick us, do we not bleed ? if you tickle us, do we 
not laugh ? if you poison us, do we not die ? and if you 
wrong us, shall we not revenge ? If we are like you in 
the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong 
a Christian, what is his humility ? Revenge. If a 
Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be 
by Christian example ? Why, revenge. The villany 
you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but 
I will better the instruction. 66 

Enter a Servant. 

Serv. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house 
and desires to speak with you both. 

Salar. We have been up and down to seek him. 
Enter Tubal. 

Salan. Here comes another of the tribe : a third 
cannot be matched, unless the Devil himself turn Jew. 

[Exeunt Salan., Salar., and Servant. 

Shy. How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? 
hast thou found my daughter ? 

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but can- 
not find her. 75 

Shy. Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond 
gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort ! The 
curse never fell upon our nation till now ; I never felt 
it till now : two thousand ducats in that ; and other 
precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter were 
dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear ! would she 
were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin ! 
No news of them ? Why, so : and I know not what 's 
spent in the search : why, thou loss upon loss ! the thief 
gone with so much, and so much to find the thief ; and 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 61 

no satisfaction, no revenge : nor no ill luck stirring 
but what lights on my shoulders ; no sighs but of my 
breathing ; no tears but of my shedding. 

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too : Antonio, as 
I heard in Genoa, — so 

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck? 

Tub. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from 
Tripolis. 

Shy. I thank God, I thank God. Is 't true, is 't 
true ? S5 

Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped 
the wrack. 

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal : good news, good 
news ! ha, ha ! where ? in Genoa ? 99 

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, in 
one night fourscore ducats. 

Shy. Thou stick' st a dagger in me: I shall never 
see my gold again : fourscore ducats at a sitting ! four- 
score ducats ! 104 

Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in 
my company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose 
but break. 

Shy. I am very glad of it : I '11 plague him ; I '11 
torture him : I am glad of it. 109 

Tub. One of them showed me a ring that he had of 
your daughter for a monkey. 

Shy. Out upon her ! Thou torturest me, Tubal : it 
was my turquoise ; I had it of Leah when I was a bach- 
elor : I would not have given it for a wilderness of 
monkeys. 115 

Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone. 

Shy. Nay, that 's true, that 's very true. Go, Tubal, 
fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. 
I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit ; for, were 



62 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will. 
Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue ; go, 
good Tubal ; at our synagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 
Enter Bassanio, Portia, Gratiano, Nerissa, and Attendants. 

Por. I pray you, tarry : pause a day or two 
Before you hazard ; for, in choosing wrong, 
I lose your company : therefore forbear awhile. 
There 's something tells me, but it is not love, 
I would not lose you ; and you know yourself, 5 

Plate counsels not in such a quality. 
But lest you should not understand me well, — 
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought, — 
I would detain you here some month or two 
Before you venture for me. I could teach you 10 

How to choose right, but I am then forsworn ; 
So will I never be : so may you miss me ; 
But if you do, you '11 make me wish a sin, 
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes, 
They have o'erlooked me and divided me ; u 

One half of me is yours, the other half yours, 

2, 3. in choosing wrong, I lose your company. Show 
wherein this would, in modern English, be regarded as a faulty 
construction. 

6. Be very careful to put the emphasis aright. 

8. Has Portia's conduct always exemplified this general state- 
ment about her sex ? 

14. Beshrew your eyes. What kind of expression is this 
in form, and what is it essentially ? In what tone should it be 
read ? 

15. o'erlooked : not at all in any usual modern sense. See 
the word in the same meaning that it has here, Merry Wives, V., 
5,87. 

16. other makes one syllable. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 63 

Mine own, I would say ; but if mine, then yours, 

And so all yours. O, these naughty times 

Put bars between the owners and their rights ! 

And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so, 20 

Let fortune go to hell for it, not I. 

I speak too long ; but 't is to piece the time, 

To eke it and to draw it out in length, 

To stay you from election. 

Bass. Let me choose ; 

For as I am, I live upon the rack. 25 

For. Upon the rack, Bassanio ! then confess 
What treason there is mingled with your love. 

Bass. None but that ugly treason of mistrust, 
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love : 

18. yours, as is often the case with monosyllables having a 
long vowel followed by r, makes here two syllables. 

20. The first yours counts as one syllable, the second as two. 
— Prove it so. Do not imagine this an imperative, which 
would be meaningless. The same construction occurs again a 
few lines below, — live thou. In Twelfth Night, III., 4, 418, 
we find if it prove, and in Errors, II., 1, 40, if thou live ; and 
these expressions are the exact equivalents of prove it and live 
thou. Conditions may be expressed by if with the subjunctive, 
the clause being in the normal order, or by the simple subjunc- 
tive, without if with the order of the clause inverted. In Mac- 
beth we find, go not my horse, and in Hamlet, if the man go, and 
both these verbs express future conditions, being in the subjunc- 
tive present. Recent English has lost the power to express con- 
dition with the inverted order and the present subjunctive, but 
can still use this form with the subjunctive past. Thus, we can 
say, Had 1 been judge, and were the world mine ; but we cannot 
say, prove it so, or live thou, to express condition. 

21. not I : grammatically very faulty. The reader must 
learn to discriminate between honest old idiom and mere care- 
lessness or ignorance. 

25, 26. What is the connection between the rack and con- 
fess ? 



64 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

There may as well be amity and life 30 

'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love. 

Pot. Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, 
Where men enforced do speak anything. 

Bass. Promise me life, and I '11 confess the truth. 

Pot. Well then, confess and live. 

Bass. Confess and love 

Had been the very sum of my confession ; 36 

O happy torment, when my torturer 
Doth teach me answers for deliverance ! 
But let me to my fortune and the caskets. 

Pot. Away, then ! I am locked in one of them : 40 
If you do love me, you will find me out. 
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof. 
Let music sound while he doth make his choice $ 
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, 
Fading in music : that the comparison 45 

May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream 
And watery death-bed for him. He may win f 
And what is music then ? Then music is 
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow 
To a new-crowned monarch : such it is 50 

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day 
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear 
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes, 
With no less presence, but with much more love, 
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem 55 

The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy 
To the sea-monster : I stand for sacrifice ; 
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives, 
With bleared visages, come forth to view 

36. Note the mode of had been. 

44. See Othello, V., 2, 247, and King John, V., 7, 21. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 65 

The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules ! eo 

Live thou, I live : with much much more dismay 
I view the fight than thou that mak'st the fray. 

Music, whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself. 
Song. 
Tell me where is fancy bred, 
Or in the heart or in the head ? 
How begot, how nourished ? es 

Reply, reply. 
It is engendered in the eyes, 
With gazing fed ; and fancy dies 
In the cradle where it lies. 

Let us all ring fancy's knell : 70 

I '11 begin it, — Ding, dong, bell. 
All. Ding, dong, bell. 

Bass. So may the outward shows be least them- 
selves : 
The world is still deceived with ornament. 
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt 75 

But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, 
Obscures the show of evil ? In religion, 
What damned error, but some sober brow 
Will bless it and approve it with a text, 
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament ? so 

There is no vice so simple but assumes 
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts : 

61. See note on line 20, prove it so. 

63-72. The first line of Bassanio's following speech shows 
that he has been able to draw from the song an important in- 
ference. Show how he was justified in doing this. Note that 
Portia's speech has dwelt upon the music that Bassanio is about 
to hear : she has given him warning to pay close attention. Is 
not Portia, then, just a little forsworn ? Put together lines 7, 
10, 13, 14, and you will see how broadly Portia hints that she is 
going to give Bassanio points. — In connection with the song, 
consider what the poet would have us understand by fancy. 



66 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false 

As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 

The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, 85 

Who, inward searched, have livers white as milk ; 

And these assume but valour's excrement 

To render them redoubted ! Look on beauty, 

And you shall see 't is purchased by the weight ; 

Which therein works a miracle in nature, 90 

Making them lightest that wear most of it : 

So are those crisped snaky golden locks 

Which make such wanton gambols with the wind, 

Upon supposed fairness, often known 

To be the dowry of a second head, 95 

The skull that bred them in the sepulchre. 

Thus ornament is but the guiled shore 

To a most dangerous sea ; the beauteous scarf 

Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word, 

The seeming truth which cunning times put on iw 

To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold, 

Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee ; 

Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge 

'Tween man and man : but thou, thou meagre lead, 

Which rather threat'nest than dost promise aught, 105 

Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence ; 

And here choose I : joy be the consequence ! 

Por. [Aside.'] How all the other passions fleet to 
air, 
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, 
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy ! n<* 

87. excrement : often used in Shakespeare to signify hair or 
beard. 

91. Catch the pun. 

99. For what rhetorical purpose does the poet here use the 
name Indian ? 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 67 

love, 

Be moderate ; allay thy ecstasy ; 

In measure rein thy joy ; scant this excess. 

1 feel too much thy blessing : make it less, 
For fear I surfeit. 

Bass. What find I here ? 115 

[Opening the leaden casket. 

Fair Portia's counterfeit ! What demi-god 
Hath come so near creation ? Move these eyes ? 
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine, 
Seem they in motion ? Here are severed lips, 
Parted with sugar breath : so sweet a bar 120 

Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs 
The painter plays the spider and hath woven 
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men 
Faster than gnats in cobwebs : but her eyes, — 
How could he see to do them ? having made one, 125 
Methinks it should have power to steal both his 
And leave itself unfurnished. Yet look, how far 
The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow 
In under j)rizing it, so far this shadow 
Doth limp behind the substance. Here 's the scroll, i3# 
The continent and summary of my fortune. 

[Reads."] You that choose not by the view, 
Chance as fair and choose as true ! 
Since this fortune falls to you, 

115. The verse is evidently to be read with four accents. — 
What new phase has the verse taken on in this speech of Por- 
tia ? Is any purpose discernible in this change of form ? 

119. Be careful to emphasize correctly. 

125. having made one : an instance of an ill-connected par- 
ticiple, such as is still common in careless writing. — Having 
makes one syllable. 

127-129. how far . . . so far : a relative preceding its ante- 
cedent. Be careful to read correctly. 



68 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

Be content and seek no new. 135 

If you be well pleased with this 
And hold your fortune for your bliss, 
Turn you where your lady is 
And claim her with a loving kiss. 

A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave ; 140 

I come by note, to give and to receive. 

Like one of two contending in a prize, 

That thinks lie hath done well in people's eyes, 

Hearing applause and universal shout, 

Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt 145 

Whether those peals of praise be his or no ; 

So, thrice-fair lady, stand I, even so ; 

As doubtful whether what I see be true, 

Until confirmed, signed, ratified by you. 

Por. You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand, 150 
Such as I am : though for myself alone 
I would not be ambitious in my wish, 
To wish myself much better ; yet, for you 
I would be trebled twenty times myself ; 
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times 155 
More rich : 

That only to stand high in your account, 
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, 
Exceed account. But the full sum of me 
Is sum of nothing ; which, to term in gross, 160 

Is an unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised ; 
Happy in this, she is not yet so old 
But she may learn ; happier than this, 
She is not bred so dull but she can learn ; 
Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit i« 

141. I come by note : what does he mean? — Observe that 
in its metric form, as well as in its content, this speech of Bas- 
sanio corresponds with Portia's aside, 108-115. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 69 

Commits itself to yours to be directed, 

As from her lord, her governor, her king. 

Myself and what is mine to you and yours 

Is now converted : but now I was the lord 

Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, no 

Queen o'er myself ; and even now, but now, 

This house, these servants and this same myself 

Are yours, my lord : I give them with this ring ; 

Which when you part from, lose, or give away, 

Let it presage the ruin of your love 175 

And be my vantage to exclaim on you. 

Bass, Madam, you have bereft me of all words, 
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ; 
And there is such confusion in my powers, 
As, after some oration fairly spoke iso 

By a beloved prince, there doth appear 
Among the buzzing pleased multitude ; 
Where every something, being blent together, 
Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy, 
Expressed and not expressed. But when this ring iw 
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence : 
O, then be bold to say Bassanio 's dead ! 

Nev. My lord and lady, it is now our time, 
That have stood by and seen our wishes prosper, 
To cry, good joy : good joy, my lord and lady ! 190 

Gra. My Lord Bassanio and my gentle lady, 
I wish you all the joy that you can wish ; 
For I am sure you can wish none from me : 
And when your honours mean to solemnize 

169, 170. What would you say is the gender of lord and 
master ? — In converted the last syllable is lost, the two Unguals 
being fused together. So in riveted, V., 1, 167. 

175. What is the antecedent of it ? 

193. Interpret the meaning of the line. 



70 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you, 195 

Even at that time I may be married too. 

Bass. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife. 

Gra. I thank your lordship, you have got me one. 
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours : 
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid ; 200 

You loved, I loved for intermission. 
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. 
Your fortune stood upon the casket there, 
And so did mine too, as the matter falls ; 
For wooing here until I sweat again, 205 

And swearing till my very roof was dry 
With oaths of love, at last, if promise last, 
I got a promise of this fair one here 
To have her love, provided that your fortune 
Achieved her mistress. 

Por. Is this true, Nerissa ? 210 

Ner, Madam, it is, so you stand pleased withal. 

Bass. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith ? 

Gra. Yes, faith, my lord. 

Bass. Our feast shall be much honoured in your 
marriage. 

Gra. But who comes here ? Lorenzo and his in- 
fidel? 215 
What, and my old Venetian friend Salerio ? 

Enter Lorenzo, Jessica, and Salerio, a messenger from Venice. 

Bass. Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither ; 

197. so thou canst : a common use of so in the poet's time. 
See below, line 211, and often elsewhere. 

200. the mistress . . . the maid. Do these words, taken in 
their present meaning, correctly express the relation between 
Portia and Nerissa ? Were not these two persons equally gentle- 
women ? 

216. A line of five accents, with two light syllables at the end. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 71 

If that the youth of my new interest here 

Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave, 

I bid my very friends and countrymen, 220 

Sweet Portia, welcome. 

Por. So do I, my lord : 

They are entirely welcome. 

Lot. I thank your honour. For my part, my lord, 
My purpose was not to have seen you here ; 
But meeting with Salerio by the way, 225 

He did intreat me, past all saying nay, 
To come with him along. 

Saler. I did, my lord ; 

And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio 
Commends him to you. [Gives Bassanio a letter. 

Bass. Ere I ope his letter, 

I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth. 230 

Saler. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind ; 
Nor well, unless in mind : his letter there 
Will show you his estate. 

Gra. Nerissa, cheer yon stranger ; bid her welcome. 
Your hand, Salerio : what 's the news from Venice ? 
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio ? 236 

I know he will be glad of our success ; 
We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece. 

Saler. I would you had won the fleece that he hath 
lost. 

221. Read from Sweet to lord as one line, and from So to 
■welcome as another. Thus Portia's words, So do I, my lord, 
count twice. This peculiarity of Shakespearian verse Abbott 
calls the "amphibious section." In this case the second line 
lacks the initial light syllable, and the last five words have but 
two accents. 

229. him is reflexive. In Old English the personal pronouns 
served as reflexives also. So we still say, — " he looked about 
him." 



72 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

JPor. There are some shrewd contents in yon same 
paper, 240 

That steals the colour from Bassanio's cheek : 
Some dear friend dead ; else nothing in the world 
Could turn so much the constitution 
Of any constant man. What, worse and worse ! 
With leave, Bassanio ; I am half yourself, 245 

And I must freely have the half of anything 
That this same paper brings you. 

Bass. O sweet Portia, 

Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words 
Than ever blotted paper ! Gentle lady, 
When I did first impart my love to you, 250 

I freely told you, all the wealth I had 
Ran in my veins ; I was a gentleman : 
And then I told you true : and yet, dear lady, 
Rating myself at nothing, you shall see 
How much I was a braggart. When I told you 255 
My state was nothing, I should then have told you 
That I was worse than nothing ; for, indeed, 
I have engaged myself to a dear friend, 
Engaged my friend to his mere enemy, 
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady ; 260 

The paper as the body of my friend, 
And every word in it a gaping wound, 
Issuing life-blood. But is it true, Salerio ? 
Have all his ventures failed ? What, not one hit ? 
From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England, 265 

From Lisbon, Barbary and India ? 

241. contents that steals. Shakespeare has many instances 
of plural verbs ending in s. These the reader should classify as 
he meets them. See Abbott's Shakespeare Grammar, 333-9. 

246. Not a line of six accents. It ends with two light sylla- 
bles. 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 73 

And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch 
Of merchant-marring rocks ? 

Seder. Not one, my lord. 

Besides, it should appear, that if he had 
The present money to discharge the Jew, 270 

He would not take it. Never did I know 
A creature, that did bear the shape of man, 
So keen and greedy to confound a man : 
He plies the Duke at morning and at night, 
And doth impeach the freedom of the state, 275 

If they deny him justice : twenty merchants, 
The Duke himself, and the magnificoes 
Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him ; 
But none can drive him from the envious plea 
Of forfeiture, of justice and his bond. 2so 

Jes. When I was with him I have heard him swear 
To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen, 
That he would rather have Antonio's flesh 
Than twenty times the value of the sum 
That he did owe him : and I know, my lord, 285 

If law, authority and power deny not, 
It will go hard with poor Antonio. 

Pot. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble ? 

Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, 
The best-conditioned and unwearied spirit 290 

In doing courtesies, and one in whom 
The ancient Roman honour more appears 
Than any that draws breath in Italy. 

Pot. What sum owes he the Jew ? 

Bass. For me three thousand ducats. 

282. Find the passage in the Bible from which Shakespeare 
borrowed both these names. Account for the form of Chus. 
Consider how ch is always pronounced in Hebrew names. 

290. See note on II., 1, 46. 



74 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

Por. What, no more ? 

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond ; 296 

Double six thousand, and then treble that, 
Before a friend of this description 
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. 
First go with me to church and call me wife, 300 

And then away to Venice to your friend ; 
For never shall you lie by Portia's side 
With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold 
To pay the petty debt twenty times over : 
When it is paid, bring your true friend along. 305 

My maid Nerissa and myself meantime 
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away ! 
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day : 
Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer : 
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear. 310 
But let us hear the letter of your friend. 

Bass. [Reads.~\ Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, 
my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the 
Jew is forfeit ; and since in paying it, it is impossible I should 
live, all debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but see 
you at my death. Notwithstanding, use your pleasure : if your 
love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter. 317 

Por. O love, dispatch all business, and be gone ! 
Bass. Since I have your good leave to go away, 

I will make haste : but, till I come again, 320 

No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay, 

No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain. [Exeunt. 

299. hair : see note on line 18, this scene. 

309. cheer, in its primitive signification, as in Mids. N. 
Dream, III., 2, 96. 

315. between you and I : a grammatical error that may 
still be heard. 



Scene III.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 75 

Scene III. Venice. A street. 
Enter Shylock, Salarino, Antonio, and Gaoler. 

Shy. Gaoler, look to him : tell not me of mercy ; 
This is the fool that lent out money gratis : 
Gaoler, look to him. 

Ant. Hear me yet, good Shylock. 

Shy. I '11 have my bond ; speak not against my 
bond : 
I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond. 5 

Thou calledst me dog before thou hadst a cause ; 
But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs : 
The Duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder, 
Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond 
To come abroad with him at his request. 10 

Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak. 

Shy. I '11 have my bond ; I will not hear thee 
speak : 
I '11 have my bond ; and therefore speak no more. 
I '11 not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, 
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield w 

To Christian intercessors. Follow not ; 
I '11 have no speaking : I will have my bond. [Exit. 

Salar. It is the most impenetrable cur 
That ever kept with men. 

Ant. Let him alone : 

I '11 follow him no more with bootless prayers. 20 

He seeks my life ; his reason well I know : 
I oft delivered from his forfeitures 
Many that have at times made moan to me ; 
Therefore he hates me. 

Salar. I am sure the Duke 

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold. 25 

9. fond, in its primitive meaning. 



76 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

Ant. The Duke cannot deny the course of law : 
For the commodity that strangers have 
With us in Venice, if it be denied, 
Will much impeach the justice of his state ; 
Since that the trade and profit of the city 30 

Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go : 
These griefs and losses have so bated me, 
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh 
To-morrow to my bloody creditor. 
Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come 35 

To see me pay his debt, and then I care not ! [Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Belmont. A room in Portia's house. 
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthasar. 

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence, 
You have a noble and a true conceit 
Of god-like amity ; which appears most strongly 
In bearing thus the absence of your lord. 
But if you knew to whom you show this honour, 5 

How true a gentleman you send relief, 
How dear a lover of my lord your husband, 
I know you would be prouder of the work 
Than customary bounty can enforce you. 

Por. I never did repent for doing good, 10 

Nor shall not now : for in companions 
That do converse and waste the time together, 
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 
There must be needs a like proportion 

30. Since that : See note on II., 6, 54. 

32. bated : note two other instances of the word in the play. 
3. Which syllable is to be slurred ? 
6. In what case is gentleman ? 

11. The reader should henceforth be prepared to deal with 
the ending — ion according to the needs of the verse. 



Scene IV.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 77 

Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit ; 15 

Which makes me think that this Antonio, 

Being the bosom lover of my lord, 

Must needs be like my lord. If it be so, 

How little is the cost I have bestowed 

In purchasing the semblance of my soul 20 

From out the state of hellish misery ! 

This comes too near the praising of myself ; 

Therefore no more of it : hear other things. 

Lorenzo, I commit into your hands 

The husbandry and manage of my house 25 

Until my lord's return : for mine own part, 

I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow 

To live in prayer and contemplation, 

Only attended by Nerissa here, 

Until her husband and my lord's return : 30 

There is a monastery two miles off ; 

And there will we abide. I do desire you 

Not to deny this imposition ; 

The which my love and some necessity 

Now lays upon you. 

Lor. Madam, with all my heart ; 35 

I shall obey you in all fair commands. 

Por. My people do already know my mind, 
And will acknowledge you and Jessica 
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself. 
And so farewell, till we shall meet again. 40 

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you ! 

Jes. I wish your ladyship all heart's content. 

Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well 
pleased 

16. In this verse all the syllables of Antonio are needed. 
30. Is this omission of a case-ending in accordance with pres- 
ent usage ? 



78 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

To wish it back on you : fare you well, Jessica. 

[Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo. 

Now, Balthasar, 45 

As I have ever found thee honest-true, 

So let me find thee still. Take this same letter, 

And use thou all the endeavour of a man 

In speed to Padua : see thou render this 

Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario ; 50 

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, 

Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed 

Unto the traject, to the common ferry 

Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words, 

But get thee gone : I shall be there before thee. 55 

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. 

[Exit. 

Pot. Come on, Nerissa ; I have work in hand 
That you yet know not of : we '11 see our husbands 
Before they think of us. 

Ner. Shall they see us ? 

Por. They shall, Nerissa ; but in such a habit, 60 
That they shall think we are accomplished 
With that we lack. I '11 hold thee any wager, 
When we are both accoutred like young men, 
I '11 prove the prettier fellow of the two, 
And wear my dagger with the braver grace, 65 

And speak between the change of man and boy 
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps 
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays 
Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies, 
How honourable ladies sought my love, 70 

Which I denying, they fell sick and died ; 
I could not do withal ; then I '11 repent, 

53. What the traject is Portia goes on to explain. 

64. Compare with II., 1, 7. 

72. I could not do withal = I could not help it. 



Scene V.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 79 

And wish, for all that, that I had not killed them ; 

And twenty of these puny lies I '11 tell, 

That men shall swear I have discontinued school 75 

Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind 

A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, 

Which I will practise. 

But come, I '11 tell thee all my whole device 

When I am in my coach, which stays for us 80 

At the park gate ; and therefore haste away, 

For we must measure twenty miles to-day. [Exeunt 

Scene V. The same. A garden. 
Enter Launcelot and Jessica. 

Laun. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the 
father are to be laid upon the children : therefore, I 
promise ye, I fear you. I was always plain with you, 
and so now I speak my agitation of the matter : there- 
fore be of good cheer, for truly I think you are damned. 
There is but one hope in it that can do you any good ; 
and that is but a kind of bastard hope neither. 

Jes, And what hope is that, I pray thee ? 

Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that you are 
not the Jew's daughter. 10 

Jes. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed : so 
the sins of my mother should be visited upon me. 

Laun. Truly then I fear you are damned both by 
father and mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your 
father, I fall into Chary bdis, your mother : well, you 
are gone both ways. is 

Jes. I shall be saved by my husband; he hath 
made me a Christian. 

3. Of the two meanings of fear, as exemplified I., 1, 20, and 
III., 2, 29, which is wanted here ? 



80 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act III. 

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he : we were 
Christians enow before ; e'en as many as could well 
live, one by another. This making of Christians will 
raise the price of hogs : if we grow all to be pork-eat- 
ers, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for 
money. 24 

Enter Lorenzo. 

Jes. I '11 tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say : 
here he comes. 

Lor. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, 
if you thus get my wife into corners. 

Jes. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo : Laun- 
celot and I are out. He tells me flatly, there is no 
mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daugh- 
ter : and he says, you are no good member of the com- 
monwealth, for in converting Jews to Christians, you 
raise the price of pork. 34 

Lor. I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn 
into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none 
only but parrots. Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare 
for dinner. 

Laun. That is done, sir ; they have all stomachs. 

Lor. Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you! 
then bid them prepare dinner. 41 

Laun. That is done too, sir; only cover is the 
word. 

Lor. Will you cover them, sir? 

Laun. Not so, sir, neither ; I know my duty. 45 

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occasion ! Wilt 
thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant ? 
I pray thee, understand a plain man in his plain mean- 
ing : go to thy fellows ; bid them cover the table, 
serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner. 50 

Laun. For the table, sir, it shall be served in ; for 



Scene V.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 81 

the meat, sir, it shall be covered ; for your coming in 
to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits 
shall govern. {Exit. 

Lor. O dear discretion, how his words are suited ! 
The fool hath planted in his memory 56 

An army of good words ; and I do know 
A many fools, that stand in better place, 
Garnished like him, that for a tricksy word 
Defy the matter. How cheer' st thou, Jessica ? 60 

And now, good sweet, say thy opinion, 
How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife? 

Jes. Past all expressing. It is very meet 
The Lord Bassanio live an upright life ; 
For, having such a blessing in his lady, 65 

He finds the joys of heaven here on earth ; 
And if on earth he do not mean it, then 
In reason he should never come to heaven.- 
Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match 
And on the wager lay two earthly women, 70 

And Portia one, there must be something else 
Pawned with the other, for the poor rude world 
Hath not her fellow. 

Lor. Even such a husband 

Hast thou of me as she is for a wife. 

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that. 75 

Lor. I will anon : first, let us go to dinner. 

Jes. Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach. 

Lor. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk ; 
Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things 79 
I shall digest it. 

Jes. Well, I '11 set you forth. [Exeunt. 

58. We still say, a great many. 
80. digest : with double meaning. 



82 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. Venice. A court of justice. 

Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio, Gratiano, 
Salerio, and others. 

Duke. What, is Antonio here ? 

Ant. Ready, so please your grace. 

Duke. I am sorry for thee : thou art come to an- 
swer 
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch 
Uncapable of pity, void and empty . 5 

From any dram of mercy. 

Ant. I have heard 

Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify 
His rigorous course ; but since he stands obdurate 
And that no lawful means can carry me 
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose jo 

My patience to his fury, and am armed 
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit, 
The very tyranny and rage of his. 

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court. 14 

Saler. He is ready at the door : he comes, my lord. 

Enter Shylock. 

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our 
face. 
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, 
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice 

8. Let the rhythm determine the accent of the last word. 

9. that repeats the since. This use of that to take the place 
of a conjunction is now obsolete. It is frequent in Shakespeare. 
See, e. g., Hamlet, I., 2, 2. 

10. envy : a meaning now obsolete. See also line 122, this 
scene, and Tempest, I., 2, 259. 

14. Do not mistake the person of the verbs go and call. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 83 

To the last hour of act ; and then 't is thought 
Thou 'It show thy mercy and remorse more strange 20 
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty ; 
And where thou now exact'st the penalty, 
Which is a pound of tins poor merchant's flesh, 
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, 
But, touched with human gentleness and love, 25 

Forgive a moiety of the principal ; 
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, 
That have of late so huddled on his back, 
Enow to press a royal merchant down 
And pluck commiseration of his state 30 

From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint, 
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never trained 
To offices of tender courtesy. 

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. 34 

Shy, I have possessed your grace of what I purpose ; 
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn 
To have the due and forfeit of my bond : 
If you deny it, let the danger light 
Upon your charter and your city's freedom. 
You '11 ask me, why I rather choose to have 40 

A weight of carrion flesh than to receive 
Three thousand ducats. I '11 not answer that ; 
But, say, it is my humour : is it answered ? 
What if my house be troubled with a rat 
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats 45 

To have it baned ? What, are you answered yet ? 

20. Does remorse here have its present meaning ? 

35. See I., 3, 59, this play. 

36. What other oath have we seen Shylock use ? 

39. your charter : the entire conception is English, not 
Venetian. 



84 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

Some men there are love not a gaping pig ; 

Some, that are mad if they behold a cat ; 

For affection, 

Master of passion, sways it to the mood 50 

Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer : 

As there is no firm reason to be rendered, 

Why he cannot abide a gaping pig ; 

Why he, a harmless necessary cat ; 

So can I give no reason, nor I will not, 55 

More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing 

I bear Antonio, that I follow thus 

A losing suit against him. Are you answered ? 

Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, 
To excuse the current of thy cruelty. 60 

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my 
answers. 

Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love ? 

Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill ? 

Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first. 

Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee 
twice ? 65 

Ant. I pray you, think you question with the Jew: 
You may as well go stand upon the beach 
And bid the main flood bate his usual height ; 
You may as well use question with the wolf 
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ; 70 

You may as well forbid the mountain pines 

47, 48. Do not misplace the emphasis. 

55. In our older English a negative was considered to be 
strengthened, not destroyed, by being doubled. 

63. Hates any man : Note the old interrogative form. How 
does the verb in present English form its interrogative ? Does 
the verb still, in any instances, form its interrogative in the old 
manner ? 

G6. Would you use the word think in this sense ? 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 85 

To wag their high tops and to make no noise, 
When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ; 
You may as well do any thing most hard, 
As seek to soften that — than which what 's harder ? — 
His Jewish heart : therefore, I do beseech you, 76 

Make no more offers, use no farther means, 
But with all brief and plain conveniency 
Let me have judgement and the Jew his will. 

Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here is six. so 

Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
Were in six parts and every part a ducat, 
I would not draw them ; I would have my bond. 

Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering 
none? 

Shy. What judgement shall I dread, doing no 
wrong ? 85 

You have among you many a purchased slave, 
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, 
You use in abject and in slavish parts, 
Because you bought them : shall I say to you, 
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs — 90 

Why sweat they under burthens ? — let their beds 
Be made as soft as yours and let their palates 
Be seasoned with such viands ? You will answer 
The slaves are ours : so do I answer you : 
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him, 95 

Is dearly bought ; 't is mine and I mil have it. 
If you deny me, fie upon your law ! 
There is no force in the decrees of Venice. 
I stand for judgement : answer ; shall I have it ? 
72. How would you correct the grammatical irregularity ? 
89-93. Remember, in reading, that the imperative clauses 
and the question, why sweat they, are all subordinate to the 
main question, — shall I say to you. Do not plead with the 
court, but ask the court if you shall plead with it. 



86 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

Duke. Upon my power I may dismiss this court, 100 
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor, 
Whom I have sent for to determine this, 
Come here to-day. 

Saler. My lord, here stays without 

A messenger with letters from the doctor, 
New come from Padua. 105 

Duke. Bring us the letters ; call the messenger. 

Bass. Good cheer, Antonio ! What, man, courage 
yet! 
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all, 
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. 

Ant. I am a tainted wether of the flock, 110 

Meetest for death : the weakest kind of fruit 
Drops earliest to the ground ; and so let me : 
You cannot better be employed, Bassanio, 
Than to live still and write mine epitaph. 

Enter Nerissa, dressed like a lawyer's clerk. 

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario ? 115 
JYer. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your 

£Tace. [Presenting a letter. 

Bass. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly ? 

Shy. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. 

Gra. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, 
Thou mak'st thy knife keen ; but no metal can, 120 
No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness 
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee ? 

104. With this line compare 233 in this scene, and make the 
inference suggested. 

105, 106. An " amphibious section." See note on III., 2, 225. 
119. In the English of the poet's day it is probable the two 

words had a slight difference of pronunciation. See Furness' 
Variorum. 

122. Evidently a word, usually monosyllabic, must here be 
read with two syllables. See note, III.. 2, 18. 



Scene L] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 87 

Shy. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make. 

Gra. O, be thou damned, inexecrable dog ! 
And for thy life let justice be accused. 125 

Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith 
To hold opinion with Pythagoras, 
That souls of animals infuse themselves 
Into the trunks of men : thy currish spirit 
Governed a wolf, who, hanged for human slaughter, 
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, 131 

And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallowed dam, 
Infused itself in thee ; for thy desires 
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous. 

Shy. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond, 
Thou but offend' st thy lungs to speak so loud : 136 

Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall 
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law. 

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend 
A young and learned doctor to our court. 140 

Where is he? 

Ner. He attendeth here hard by, 

To know your answer, whether you '11 admit him. 

Duke. With all my heart. Some three or four of 
you 
Go give him courteous conduct to this place. 
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario' s letter. 145 

Clerk. \_Reads.~] Your grace shall understand that at the re- 
ceipt of your letter I am very sick : but in the instant that your 
messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a young doctor 
of Rome ; his name is Balthasar. I acquainted him with the 
cause in controversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant : 
we turned o'er many books together : he is furnished with my 
opinion ; which, bettered with his own learning, the greatness 
whereof I cannot enough commend, comes with him, at my im- 
portunity, to fill up your grace's request in my stead. I beseech 

124. Be sure of the meaning of inexecrable. 



88 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

you, let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a 
reverend estimation ; for I never knew so young a body with so 
old a head. I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose 
trial shall better publish his commendation. 

Duke. You hear the learned Bellario, what he 
writes : 
And here, I take it, is the doctor come. 160 

Enter Portia, dressed like a Doctor of Laws. 

Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario ? 

Por. I did, my lord. 

Duke. You are welcome : take your place. 

Are you acquainted with the difference 
That holds this present question in the court ? 

Pot. I am informed throughly of the cause. 165 

Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew ? 

Duke. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. 

Por. Is your name Shylock ? 

Shy. Shylock is my name. 

Por. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow ; 
Yet in such rule that the Venetian law no 

Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. 
You stand within his danger, do you not ? 

Ant. Ay, so he says. 

Por. Do you confess the bond ? 

Ant. I do. 

Por. Then must the Jew be merciful. 

159. The idiom is common in Shakespearian language. The 
object Bellario is redundant. Put the line into modern Eng- 
lish. 

161. If we are to suppose that the Duke has but just sent for 
Bellario, does not the simultaneousness of the Duke's and Por- 
tia's resorting to that learned doctor become incredible ? But 
may not the Duke have been in consultation with Bellario for 
some time ? 

174, 175. In what sense does Portia use must? In what 
sense does Shylock understand her to use it ? 



Scene L] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 89 

Shy. On what compulsion must I ? tell me that. 175 
Pot. The quality of mercy is not strained ; 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest ; 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes : 
'T is mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 180 

The throned monarch better than his crown : 
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; 
But mercy is above the sceptred sway ; iss 

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to God himself ; 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 190 

That, in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much 
To mitigate the justice of thy plea ; 195 

W T hich if thou follow, this strict court of Venice 
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there. 
Shy. My deeds upon my head ! I crave the law, 
The penalty and forfeit of my bond. 

Pot. Is he not able to discharge the money ? 200 
Bass. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court ; 
Yea, twice the sum : if that will not suffice, 
I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er, 
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart : 
If this will not suffice, it must appear 205 

That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you, 
Wrest once the law to your authority : 
To do a great right, do a little wrong, 
And curb this cruel devil of his will. 



90 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

Pot. It must not be ; there is no power in Venice 
Can alter a decree established : 211 

'T will be recorded for a precedent, 
And many an error by the same example 
Will rush into the state : it cannot be. 

Shy. A Daniel come to judgement ! yea, a Daniel ! 
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee ! 216 

JPor. I pray you, let me look upon the bond. 

Shy. Here 't is, most reverend doctor, here it is. 

Pot. Shy lock, there 's thrice thy money offered 
thee. 

Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven : 
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul ? 221 

No, not for Venice. 

Pot. Why, this bond is forfeit ; 

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim 
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off 
Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful : 225 

Take thrice thy money ; bid me tear the bond. 

Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour. 
It doth appear you are a worthy judge ; 
You know the law, your exposition 
Hath been most sound : I charge you by the law, 230 
Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar, 
Proceed to judgement : by my soul I swear 
There is no power in the tongue of man 
To alter me : I stay here on my bond. 

Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court 235 

To give the judgement. 

216. Compare Shylock's thee, used to Portia, with the forms 
of address he has used elsewhere to her. 

235, 236. Iu what capacity is Portia present in the court ? Is 
she judge, or is she counsel for one of the parties ? See also 
line 238, and the expression there used variously repeated else- 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 91 

Por. Why then, thus it is : 

You must prepare your bosom for his knife. 

Shy. O noble judge ! O excellent young man ! 

Por. For the intent and purpose of the law 
Hath full relation to the penalty, 240 

Which here appeareth due upon the bond. 

Shy. 'T is very true : O wise and upright judge ! 
How much more elder art thou than thy looks ! 

Por. Therefore lay bare your bosom. 

Shy. Ay, his breast : 

So says the bond : doth it not, noble judge ? 245 

" Nearest his heart : " those are the very words. 

Por. It is so. Are there balance here to weigh 
The flesh ? 

Shy. I have them ready. 

Por. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your 
charge, 
To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. 250 

Shy. Is it so nominated in the bond ? 

Por. It is not so expressed : but what of that ? 
'T were good you do so much for charity. 

Shy. I cannot find it ; 't is not in the bond. 

Por, You, merchant, have you anything to say ? 255 

Ant. But little : I am armed and well prepared. 
Give me your hand, Bassanio : fare you well ! 

where. But consider also whether she finally takes a fee. See 
what the Duke says in line 398. 

243. more elder. See Ccesar, III., 2, 187, Tempest, I., 2, 19, 
Hamlet, II., 1, 11. 

247. balance : undoubtedly plural. Compare the word sense, 
Othello, IV., 3, 95. What element have these words in common, 
that would cause the dropping of the final s of the plural ? 

253. 'T were good you do : an occasion for an interesting 
study of modes and tenses. 

256. Compare line 11, this scene. 



92 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you ; 

For herein Fortune shows herself more kind 

Than is her custom. It is still her use 260 

To let the wretched man outlive his wealth, 

To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow 

An age of poverty ; from which lingering penance 

Of such a misery doth she cut me off. 

Commend me to your honourable wife : 265 

Tell her the process of Antonio's end ; 

Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death ; 

And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge 

Whether Bassanio had not once a love. 

Repent but you that you shall lose your friend, 270 

And he repents not that he pays your debt ; 

For if the Jew do cut but deep enough, 

I '11 pay it presently with all my heart. 

Bass. Antonio, I am married to a wife 
Which is as dear to me as life itself ; 275 

But life itself, my wife, and all the world, 
Are not with me esteemed above thy life : 
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all 
Here to this devil, to deliver you. 

Por. Your wife would give you little thanks for 
that, 280 

If she were by, to hear you make the offer. 

Gra. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love : 
I would she were in heaven, so she could 
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. 

Ner. 'T is well you offer it behind her back ; 285 
The wish would make else an unquiet house. 

Shy. These be the Christian husbands. I have a 
daughter ; 

273. It is plain that presently has its former meaning, in- 
stantly, and must be inflected accordingly. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 93 

Would any of the stock of Barrabas 

Had been her husband rather than a Christian ! [Aside. 

We trifle time : I pray thee, pursue sentence. 290 

Por. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is 
thine : 
The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 

Shy. Most rightful judge ! 

Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his 
breast : 
The law allows it, and the court awards it. 295 

Shy. Most learned judge ! A sentence ! Come, 
prepare ! 

Por. Tarry a little ; there is something else. 
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood ; 
The words expressly are " a pound of flesh : " 
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh ; 300 
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods 
Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 
Unto the state of Venice. 

Gra. O upright judge ! Mark, Jew : O learned 
judge ! 305 

Shy. Is that the law ? 

Por. Thyself shall see the act : 

For, as thou urgest justice, be assured 
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest. 

288. The verse shows you how to pronounce the name. 

290. Accent pursue conformably to the rhythm. 

301, 318, 322. Note the varying modes, — if thou dost shed, 
if thou cut'st, if the scale do turn. 

304. "Amphibious section." See note on III., 2, 221. The 
measures common to the two verses are in this case the words, 
O upright judge, which furnish the last two accents of one 
verse and the first two of the other. 



94 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

Gra. O learned judge ! Mark, Jew : a learned 
judge ! 309 

Shy. I take this offer, then ; pay the bond thrice 
And let the Christian go. 

Bass. Here is the money. 

Por. Soft! 
The Jew shall have all justice ; soft ! no haste : 
He shall have nothing but the penalty. 

Gra. O Jew ! an upright judge, a learned judge ! 

Por. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh. 316 
Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more 
But just a pound of flesh : if thou cut'st more 
Or less than a just pound, be it but so much 
As makes it light or heavy in the substance, 320 

Or the division of the twentieth part 
Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn 
But in the estimation of a hair, 
Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate. 

Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew ! 325 

Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip. 

Por. Why doth the Jew pause ? take thy forfeit- 
ure. 

Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go. 

Pass. I have it ready for thee ; here it is. 

Por. He hath refused it in the open court : 330 

He shall have merely justice and his bond. 

Gra. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel ! 
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. 

312. Soft ! What is the modern equivalent of this exclama- 
tion? 

324. See the same peculiarity in Troilus and Cressida, I., 3, 
125, Mids. N. Dream, V., 1, 412, and in this play, V., 1, 11. 
Account for this common peculiarity by reference to a phonetic 
feature which the words concerned have in common. 



Scene L] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 95 

Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal ? 

Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, 
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. 336 

Shy. Why, then the Devil give him good of it ! 
I '11 stay no longer question. 

Por. Tarry, Jew : 

The law hath yet another hold on you. 
It is enacted in the laws of Venice, 340 

If it be proved against an alien 
That by direct or indirect attempts 
He seek the life of any citizen, 
The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive 
Shall seize one half his goods ; the other half 345 

Comes to the privy coffer of the state ; 
And the offender's life lies in the mercy 
Of the Duke only, 'gainst all other voice. 
In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st ; 
For it appears, by manifest proceeding, 350 

That indirectly, and directly too, 
Thou hast contrived against the very life 
Of the defendant ; and thou hast incurred 
The danger formerly by me rehearsed. 
Down therefore and beg mercy of the Duke. 355 

Gra. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thy- 
self: 
And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, 
Thou hast not left the value of a cord ; 
Therefore thou must be hanged at the state's charge. 

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our 
spirits, 3go 

I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it : 
For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ; 

360, 361. That thou shalt . . . before thou ask. Wherein 
do these constructions differ from those now current ? 



96 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

The other half comes to the general state, 
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine. 

Por. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio. 365 

Shy. Nay, take my life and all ; pardon not that : 
You take my house when you do take the prop 
That doth sustain my house ; you take my life 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 369 

Por. What mercy can you render him, Antonio ? 

Gra. A halter gratis ; nothing else, for God's sake. 

Ant. So please my lord the Duke and all the court 
To quit the fine for one half of his goods, 
I am content ; so he will let me have 
The other half in use, to render it, 375 

Upon his death, unto the gentleman 
That lately stole his daughter : 
Two things provided more, that, for this favour, 
He presently become a Christian ; 
The other, that he do record a gift, 380 

Here in the court, of all he dies possessed, 
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. 

Duke. He shall do this, or else I do recant 
The pardon that I late pronounced here. 

Por. Art thou contented, Jew ? what dost thou 
say ? 385 

Shy. I am content. 

Por. Clerk, draw a deed of gift. 

Shy. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence ; 

371. A monosyllable, unless it be a pronoun with enclitic 
accent, rarely makes a light ending. Compare this line with the 
last one of Sc. 1, Act I., and with 418 in this scene. 

379. presently : remember what you have already seen to 
be the meaning of this word. 

381. Supply and explain the ellipsis. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 97 

I am not well : send the deed after me, 
And I will sign it. 

Duke. Get thee gone, but do it. 

Gra. In christening shalt thou have two godfa- 
thers : 390 
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more, 
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font. [Exit Shylock. 

Duke. Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner. 

Dor. I humbly do desire your grace of pardon : 
I must away this night toward Padua, 395 

And it is meet I presently set forth. 

Duke. I am sorry that your leisure serves you not. 
Antonio, gratify this gentleman ; 
For, in my mind, you are much bound to him. 

[Exeunt Duke and his train. 

Bass. Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend 400 
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted 
Of grievous penalties ; in lieu whereof, 
Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew, 
We freely cope your courteous pains withal. 

Ant. And stand indebted, over and above, 405 

In love and service to you evermore. 

Dor. He is well paid that is well satisfied ; 
And I, delivering you, am satisfied 
And therein do account myself well paid : 
My mind was never yet more mercenary. 410 

I pray you, know me when we meet again : 
I wish you well, and so I take my leave. 

Bass. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you fur- 
ther : 

389. it is a perfect enclitic. 

398. gratify this gentleman : i. e., give him a fee. 

402. in lieu whereof : see Tempest, I., 2, 123, John V., 4, 44. 

404. The verb cope has an interesting etymology. 



98 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act IV. 

Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute, 

Not as a fee : grant me two things, I pray you, 415 

Not to deny me, and to pardon me. 

Pot. You press me far, and therefore I will yield. 
[To AntJ] Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for 

your sake ; 
[To Bass.~\ And, for your love, I'll take this ring 

from- you : 
Do not draw back your hand ; I '11 take no more ; 420 
And you in love shall not deny me this. 

Bass. This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle ! 
I will not shame myself to give you this. 

Pot. I will have nothing else but only this ; 
And now methinks I have a mind to it. 425 

Bass. There 's more depends on this than on the 
value. 
The dearest ring in Venice will I give you, 
And find it out by proclamation : 
Only for this, I pray you, pardon me. 

Pot. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers : 430 

You taught me first to beg ; and now methinks 
You teach me how a beggar should be answered. 

Bass. Good sir, this ring was given me by my 
wife ; 
And when she put it on, she made me vow 
That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it. 435 

Pot. That 'scuse serves many men to save their 
gifts. 
An if your wife be not a mad-woman, 
And know how well I have deserved the ring, 
She would not hold out enemy for ever, 
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you ! 440 

[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa. 

424, 425. Portia is still wearing the garb of a doctor of laws. 
Is she still talking in this character ? 



Scene II.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 99 

Ant. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring : 
Let his deservings and my love withal 
Be valued against your wife's commandment. 

Bass. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him ; 
Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst, 445 
Unto Antonio's house : away ! make haste. 

[Exit Gratiano. 

Come, you and I will thither presently ; 

And in the morning early will we both 

Fly toward Belmont : come, Antonio. [Exeunt. 



Scene II. The same. A street. 
Enter Portia and Nerissa. 

Por. Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this 
deed 
And let him sign it : we '11 away to-night 
And be a day before our husbands home : 
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo. 
Enter Gratiano. 

Gra. Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en : 5 

My Lord Bassanio upon more advice 
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat 
Your company at dinner. 

Por. That cannot be : 

His ring I do accept most thankfully : 
And so, I pray you, tell him : furthermore, 10 

I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house. 

Gra. ThatwiUIdo. 

Ner. Sir, I would speak with you. 

[Aside to Por.~\ I '11 see if I can get my husband's 

ring, 
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever. 



100 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act V. 

For. [Aside to Ner.~] Thou mayst, I warrant. 
We shall have old swearing 15 

That they did give the rings away to men ; 
But we '11 outface them, and outswear them too. 
\_Alond.~] Away ! make haste : thou know'st where I 
will tarry. 
Ner. Come, good sir, will you show me to this 

house ? [Exeunt 

ACT V. 

Scene I. Belmont. Avenue to Portia's house. 
Enter Lokenzo and Jessica. 

Lor. The moon shines bright : in such a night as 
this, 
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees 
And they did make no noise, in such a night 
Troilus methinks mounted the Trojan walls 
And sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents, 5 

Where Cressid lay that night. 

Jes. In such a night 

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew 
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself 
And ran dismayed away. 

Lor. In such a night 

i 15. old swearing : see Macbeth, II., 3, 2, and Merry Wives, 
L, 4, 5. 

4. Troilus — Cressid. This is not a classical allusion. The 
Troilus story to which the poet refers is the one he tells in his 
play of Troilus and Cressida, and which he got from Chaucer's 
poem of the same name. 

7. The Thisbe story is the subject of the tedious brief scene, 
enacted by hard-handed men that work in Athens here, in Mids. 
N. Dream, Act V. This too the poet got from Chaucer (see 
the Legende of Goode Women), or from Ovid. 



Scene L] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 101 

Stood Dido with a willow in her hand 10 

Upon the wild sea banks and waft her love 
To come again to Carthage. 

Jes. In such a night 

Medea gathered the enchanted herbs 
That did renew old iEson. 

Lor. In such a night 

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew 15 

And with an unthrift love did run from Venice 
As far as Belmont. 

Jes. In such a night 

Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well, 
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith 
And ne'er a true one. 

Lor. In such a night 20 

Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, 
Slander her love, and he forgave it her. 

Jes. I would out-night you, did nobody come ; 
But, hark, I hear the footing of a man. 
Enter Stephano. 

Lor. Who comes so fast in silence of the night ? 25 

Steph. A friend. 

10. The story of Dido also the poet may have got from 
Chaucer, or he may have read Ovid or Virgil. But the willow 
is a touch of his own. In several play s he represents the willow 
as an emblem of unhappy love. See Much Ado, II., 1, 194 and 
225, Hamlet, IV., 7, 167, Othello, Act IV., Sc. 3. 

11. As inflectional d in modern English regularly falls away, 
or is absorbed, after t, in such verbs as cut, cast, set, so Shake- 
speare makes it do in waft. See John, II., 1, 73. 

13. Medea, gathering her magic herbs by moonlight, is cer- 
tainly from Ovid. 

15. Note the double meaning. 

20. Ne'er must be read with its usual two syllables to make 
the verse metrically sound. 

23. did nobody come : in what mode and why ? 



102 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act V. 

Lor. A friend ! what friend ? your name, I pray 
you, friend ? 

Steph. Stephano is my name ; and I bring word 
My mistress will before the break of day 
Be here at Belmont : she doth stray about 30 

By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays 
For happy wedlock hours. 

Lor. Who comes with her ? 

Steph. None but a holy hermit and her maid. 
I pray you, is my master yet returned ? 

Lor. He is not, nor we have not heard from him. 
But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica, 36 

And ceremoniously let us prepare 
Some welcome for the mistress of the house. 
Enter Launcelot. 

Laun. Sola, sola ! wo ha, ho ! sola, sola ! 

Lor. Who calls ? « 

Laun. Sola ! did you see Master Lorenzo ? Mas- 
ter Lorenzo, sola, sola ! 

Lor. Leave hollaing, man : here. 

Laun. Sola ! where ? where ? 

Lor. Here. 45 

Laun. Tell him there 's a post come from my mas- 
ter, with his horn full of good news : my master will 
be here ere morning. [Exit. 

Lor. Sweet soul, let 's in, and there expect their 
coming. 
And yet no matter : why should we go in ? so 

My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you, 
Within the house, your mistress is at hand ; 
And bring your music forth into the air. [Exit Stephano. 

28. Stephano : compare Tempest, V., 1, 277. 
36, 37. Note the two imperative forms, — the ancient and the 
modern. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 103 

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! 

Here will we sit and let the sounds of music 55 

Creep in our ears : soft stillness and the night 

Become the touches of sweet harmony. 

Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven 

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold : 

There 's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 60 

But in his motion like an angel sings, 

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins ; 

Such harmony is in immortal souls ; 

But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 

Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 65 

Enter Musicians. 

Come, ho ! and wake Diana with a hymn : 

With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear 

And draw her home with music. [Music. 

Jes. I am never merry when I hear sweet music. 

Lor. The reason is, your spirits are attentive : 70 
For do but note a wild and wanton herd, 
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, 
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud, 
Which is the hot condition of their blood ; 
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, 75 

Or any air of music touch their ears, 
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, 
Their savage eyes turned to a modest gaze 
By the sweet power of music : therefore the poet 

60-65. See Par. Lost, V., 616-627, Hymn on the Nativity, 125- 
132, At a Solemn Music, Arcades, and many other passages in 
Milton. See also Job, xxxviii. 

62. cherubins : criticise this plural form. 

77. mutual : see Mids. N. Dream, IV., 1, 122, and Henry IV., 
Part I., I., 1, 14. 

79. A verse of the normal number of accents. — By the poet 
is undoubtedly meant Ovid. 



104 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act V. 

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods ; 
Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage, 8i 

But music for the time doth change his nature. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils : 85 

The motions of his spirit are dull as night 
And his affections dark as Erebus : 
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music. 
Enter Portia and Nerissa. 

Por. That light we see is burning in my hall. 
How far that little candle throws his beams ! 90 

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

Ner. When the moon shone, we did not see the 
candle. 

Por. So doth the greater glory dim the less : 
A substitute shines brightly as a king 
Until a king be by ; and then his state 95 

Empties itself, as doth an inland brook 
Into the main of waters. Music ! hark ! 

Ner. It is your music, madam, of the house. 

Por. Nothing is good, I see, without respect : 
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. 100 

Ner. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. 

Por. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark 
When neither is attended, and I think 
The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
When every goose is cackling, would be thought 105 
No better a musician than the wren. 

80. By all means look up the poet's two other allusions to the 
Orpheus myth, Henry VIII., III., 1, song, and Two Gentlemen, 
III., 2, 78-87. 

103. Supply the word needed to convert the line into modern 
English. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 105 

How many things by season seasoned are 

To their right praise and true perfection ! 

Peace, ho ! the moon sleeps with Endymion 

And would not be awaked. [Music ceases. 

Lor. That is the voice, no 

Or I am much deceived, of Portia. 

Por. He knows me as the blind man knows the 
cuckoo, 
By the bad voice. 

Lot. Dear lady, welcome home. 

Pot. We have been praying for our husbands' 
healths, 
Which speed, we hope, the better for our words. 115 
Are they returned ? 

Lot. Madam, they are not yet ; 

But there is come a messenger before, 
To signify their coming. 

Pot. Go in, Nerissa ; 

Give order to my servants that they take 
No note at all of our being absent hence ; 120 

Nor you, Lorenzo ; Jessica, nor you. [A tucket sounds. 

Lor. Your husband is at hand ; I hear his trumpet : 
We are no tell-tales, madam ; fear you not. 

Por. This night methinks is but the daylight sick ; 
It looks a little paler : 't is a day, 125 

Such as the day is when the sun is hid. 

Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their followers. 

Bass. We should hold day with the Antipodes, 
If you would walk in absence of the sun. 

Por. Let me give light, but let me not be light ; 
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband, iso 

109. Look up Endymion in the classical dictionary, and read 
Longfellow's poem. 

127, 128. How do these lines suggest Portia's reply ? 



106 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act V. 

And never be Bassanio so for me : 

But God sort all ! You are welcome home, my lord. 

Bass. I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my 
friend. 
This is the man : this is Antonio, 
To whom I am so infinitely bound. 135 

Por. You should in all sense be much bound to 
him, 
For, as I hear, he was much bound for you. 

Ant. No more than I am well acquitted of. 

Por. Sir, you are very welcome to our house : 
It must appear in other ways than words, 140 

Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy. 

Gra. [To Ner.~] By yonder moon I swear you do 
me wrong ; 
In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk. 

Por. A quarrel, ho, already ! what 's the matter ? 

Gra. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring 145 

That she did give me, whose posy was 
For all the world like cutler's poetry 
Upon a knife, " Love me, and leave me not." 

Ner. What talk you of the posy or the value ? 
You swore to me, when I did give it you, 150 

That you would wear it till your hour of death, 
And that it should lie with you in your grave. 
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths, 
You should have been respective and have kept it. 
Gave it a judge's clerk ! no, God's my judge, 155 

The clerk will ne'er wear hair on 's face that had it. 

Gra. He will, an if he live to be a man. 

Ner. Ay, if a woman live to be a man. 

146. posy : see Hamlet, III., 2, 162. 

154. respective : see Romeo and Juliet, III., 1, 128, and 
John, I., 1, 188. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 107 

Gra. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth, 
A kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy, 160 

No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk, 
A prating boy, that begged it as a fee : 
I could not for my heart deny it him. 

Por. You were to blame, I must be plain with you, 
To part so slightly with your wife's first gift ; 165 

A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger 
And so riveted with faith unto your flesh. 
I gave my love a ring and made him swear 
Never to part with it ; and here he stands ; 
I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it no 

Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth 
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano, 
You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief : 
An 't were to me, I should be mad at it. 

Bass. [Aside.'] Why, I were best to cut my left 
hand off 175 

And swear I lost the ring defending it. 

Gra. My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away 
Unto the judge that begged it, and indeed 
Deserved it too ; and then the boy, his clerk, 
That took some pains in writing, he begged mine ; iso 
And neither man nor master would take aught 
But the two rings. 

Por. What ring gave you, my lord ? 

Not that, I hope, which you received of me. 

Bass. If I could add a lie unto a fault, 
I would deny it ; but you see my finger m 

Hath not the ring upon it ; it is gone. 

167. riveted : the two Unguals coalesce into one syllable. 
See Henry IV., Part I., V., 5, 13, and As You Like It, I., 2, 256. 

173. Take care of the rhythm by contracting two vowel sounds 
that come together. 



108 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act V. 

Por. Even so void is your false heart of truth. 

Bass. Sweet Portia, 
If you did know to whom I gave the ring, 
If you did know for whom I gave the ring, iso 

And would conceive for what I gave the ring, 
And how unwillingly I left the ring, 
When nought would be accepted but the ring, 
You would abate the strength of your displeasure. 

Por. If you had known the virtue of the ring, 195 
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring, 
Or your own honour to contain the ring, 
You would not then have parted with the ring. 
What man is there so much unreasonable, 
If you had pleased to have defended it 200 

With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty 
To urge the thing held as a ceremony ? 
Nerissa teaches me what to believe : 
I '11 die for 't but some woman had the ring. 

Bass. No, by my honour, madam, by my soul, 205 
No woman had it, but a civil doctor, 
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me 
And begged the ring ; the which I did deny him 
And suffered him to go displeased away ; 
Even he that did uphold the very life 210 

Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady ? 
I was enforced to send it after him ; 

196. What is the antecedent of that ? 

197. What is the meaning of the line ? 

199-202. The language is confused and involved, but the 
meaning is clear enough. Render this meaning simply and 
clearly. 

201. Do not read the line with six accents. Consider it as 
having a double light ending. 

206. civil : do not mistake the meaning of the word. Look 
up civil law. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 109 

I was beset with shame and courtesy ; 

My honour would not let ingratitude 

So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady ; 215 

For, by these blessed candles of the night, 

Had you been there, I think you would have begged 

The ring of me to give the worthy doctor. 

Por. Let not that doctor e'er come near my house : 
Since he hath got the jewel that I loved, 220 

And that which you did swear to keep for me, 
I will become as liberal as you ; 
I '11 not deny him any thing I have. 

JYer. Nor I his clerk : therefore be well advised 
How you do leave me to mine own protection. 225 

Gra. Well, do you so ; let not me take him, then ; 
For if I do, I '11 mar the young clerk's pen. 

Ant. I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels. 

Por. Sir, grieve not you ; you are welcome not- 
withstanding. 

Bass. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong ; 2jo 
And, in the hearing of these many friends, 
I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes, 
Wherein I see myself — 

Por. Mark you but that ! 

In both my eyes he doubly sees himself ; 
In each eye, one : swear by your double self, 235 

And there 's an oath of credit. 

Bass. Nay, but hear me : 

Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear 
I never more will break an oath with thee. 

Ant. I once did lend my body for his wealth, 

216. Compare the other oaths we have found in the course of 
the play. Remember Portia's prophecy, we shall have old sweat" 
ing, and notice more oaths coming in lines 232, 237, 247. 

239. wealth has here its primitive meaning. 



110 TEE MERCHANT OF VENICE. [Act V. 

Which, but for him that had your husband's ring, 240 
Had quite miscarried : I dare be bound again, 
My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord 
Will never more break faith advisedly. 

Por. Then you shall be his surety. Give him this 
And bid him keep it better than the other. 245 

Ant Here, Lord Bassanio ; swear to keep this ring. 

Bass. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor ! 

Por. You are all amazed : 
Here is a letter ; read it at your leisure ; 
It comes from Padua, from Bellario : 250 

There you shall find that Portia was the doctor, 
Nerissa there her clerk. Lorenzo here 
Shall witness I set forth as soon as you 
And even but now returned ; I have not yet 
Entered my house. Antonio, you are welcome ; 255 
And I have better news in store for you 
Than you expect. Unseal this letter soon : 
There you shall find three of your argosies 
Are richly come to harbour suddenly : 
You shall not know by what strange accident 260 

I chanced on this letter. 

Ant I am dumb. 

Bass. Were you the doctor and I knew you not ? 

Ant. Sweet lady, you have given me life and liv- 
ing ; 
For here I read for certain that my ships 
Are safely come to road. 

Por. How now, Lorenzo ! 265 

My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. 

JVer. Ay, and I '11 give them him without a fee. 
There do I give to you and Jessica, 

262. Consider why, in the compound question, only one of the 
verbs is in the interrogative position. 



Scene I.] THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. Ill 

From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift, 

After his death, of all he dies possessed of. 270 

Lor. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way 
Of starved people. 

Por. It is almost morning, 

And yet I am sure you are not satisfied 
Of these events at full. Let us go in ; 
And charge us there upon inter'gatories, 27 

And we will answer all things faithfully. 

Gra. Well, while I live I '11 fear no other thing 
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring. [Exeunt. 

270. Was it then ignorance on the poet's part that caused him 
to drop the preposition in IV., 1, 381 ? 
275. I. e., ask us questions. 



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